Hok-lam Chan

Legends of the Building of Old Peking examines a series of popular legends surrounding the building and rebuilding of the city that served as the capital of a succession of dynasties, including the Nazha or Nezha City legend of the Yuan (1279-1368) "Great Capital" and the Ming (1368-1644) "Northern Capital," and the Mongol legend of "siting by bowshot to locate the capital city" and its Chinese adaptations. These legends reveal a rich tapestry of religious and cultural traditions surrounding the majority Han and non-Han people's conceptions of the origins of their capital cities-legends that are distinct from imperial ideologies and dynastic traditions, and evolved under changing political and cultural circumstances. The book is a unique study of the historical origins of old Peking (spelled thus to distinguish it from modern Beijing) as well as the genesis and efflorescence of related popular culture in today's capital.

Hok-lam Chan is affiliate professor of Chinese history at the University of Washington and former professor and chairman of the Department of History at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

"Each story brings a political figure or ruler face to face with the legend: the integral relationship between the eight-armed Buddhist and folk child-diety Nezha and two ministers named Liu, the flight of a Mongolian archer's arrow and the ethnicity of the Yongle emperor, and others. In uncovering these legends, the interplay of mythology, folklore, and cosmology are examined against history and urban reality. Meticulously researched, this ground-breaking book is the achievement of a career of in-depth examination and interpretation of primary resources." - Nancy Shatzman Steinhardt, author of Chinese Imperial City Planning

Note on Spelling
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Preface
Introduction
- The Historical Background
- The Cosmological Concepts of Imperial Cities
- The Planning of Imperial Cities
- Legends of Dadu and Peking

PART I: The "Nesha City" of Old Peking: Origins and Transformations

Chapter 1: Liu Bingzhong, Nazha, and the Building of Yuan "Great Capital"
- The Historical Background
- Liu Bingzhong's City Plan
- The Nazha Cheng Legend
- The Nazha Cheng Saga
- Myth and Reality

Chapter 2: Liu Bowen, Nezha, and the Building of Ming Peking
- The Historical Background
- The Genesis of the "Northern Capital"
- The Imperial City Plan
- New Nazha Cheng Legend
- Lui Bowen's Legends
- Nezha Cheng Legend Analyzed

PART II: "Siting by Bowshot": Locating the City of Ming Peking

Chapter 3: The Mongolian Story of How Emperor Yongle Built the City of Peking
- The Historical Background
- Anatomy of the Folkloric Legend
- Impact on the Nezha Cheng Legend

Chapter 4: The Stories of Liu Bowen, Yao Guangxiao, and Shen Wansan Building the City of Peking

- The Folkloric Background
- "Lui Bowen Built the City of Peking"
Lui Bowen, Xu Da, and Shen Wansan
Lui Bowen, the Dragon King, and Warrior Gao Liang
Goa Liang, Shen Wansan and the Dragon King
- "How was the City of Peking Built?"
Yao Guangxiao and the Prince of Yan
The Prince of Yan and Shen Wansan
- The Folkloric Legacy

Epilogue
PART III: Appendices
1. The Eight-Armed Nezha City (1)
2. The Eight-Armed Nexha City (2)
3. Book of the Story of How Emperor Yung-lo of the Great Ming Built the City of Peking - The Yuan Prince - The True Prince
4. Lui Bowen Building the City of Peking
5. How was the City of Peking Built?
Glossary
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Pub Date: 2008 ISBN: CLOTH:    0-295-98782-0    978-0-295-98782-8 Price: Cloth: $60.00s Subject Listing: Asian Studies, Literary Studies Bibliographic information: 420 pp.. 40 illus., 6 x 9 in. Territorial rights: North American rights only