This book traces the evolving uses of writing to command assent and obedience in early China, an evolution that culminated in the establishment of a textual canon as the foundation of imperial authority. Its central theme is the emergence of this body of writings as the textual double of the state, and of the text-based sage as the double of the ruler. The book examines the full range of writings employed in early China, such as divinatory records, written communications with ancestors, government documents, the collective writings of philosophical and textual traditions, speeches attributed to historical figures, chronicles, verse anthologies, commentaries, and encyclopedic compendia. Lewis shows how these writings served to administer populations, control officials, form new social groups, invent new models of authority, and create an artificial language whose mastery generated power and whose graphs became potent objects. Writing and Authority in Early China traces the enterprise of creating a parallel reality within texts that depicted the entire world. These texts provided models for the invention of a world empire, and one version ultimately became the first state canon of imperial China. This canon served to perpetuate the dream and the reality of the imperial system across the centuries.

《新近海外中国社会史论文选译》是教育部人文社会科学重点研究基地重大项目“二十世纪中国社会史研究的回顾与展望”的子课题——“新近海外中国社会史研究论文选译”的研究成果。

20世纪初，由于义和团运动和辛亥革命的影响，大量中国文物向海外流失。本书作者在大量海外的原始资料和调查研究的基础上，考察了中国文物于近代的各种流出形态，阐明其复杂的历史背景，特别围绕其与日本的关系加以探讨，并着眼于日本古董商对中国文物的传播与收藏的形成所起的作用，阐明其意义，其中尤其突出的是山中商会的会长山中定次郎所处的决定性地位。此外，书中还分别通过对中国古陶瓷器和青铜器的典型事例，考察了日本近代中国美术鉴赏成立的过程和意义。全书资料翔实，尤其是使用到许多国内难得一见的原始资料，视角独特，分析透彻，是一部具有极高学术意义和参考价值的有关中国艺术品流转与鉴赏史的专著。