Political frontiers, ethnic boundaries, and human geographies in Chinese history / edited by Nicola di Cosmo and Don J. Wyatt.

Toward a social geography of the Zhouyuan during the western Zhou dynasty: the Jing and Zhong lineages of Fufeng county / Edward L. Shaughnesssy -- Mapping a "spiritual" landscape: representation of terrestrial space in the Shanhaijing / Vera Dorofeeva-Lichtmann -- Ethnicity and identity: northern nomads as Buddhist art patrons during the period of northern and southern dynasties / Dorothy C. Wong -- Deep eyes and high noses: physiognomy and the depiction of barbarians in Tang China / Marc Samuel Abramson -- Raiding and frontier society in the five dynasties / Naomi Standen -- "Felt yurts neatly arrayed, large tends huddle close": visualizing the frontier in the northern Song dynasty (960-1127) / Irene S. Leung -- The invention of the Northern Song / Don J. Wyatt -- The Mu'ege kingdom: a brief history of a frontier empire in southwest China / John E. Herman -- Traveler's vocation: Xu Xiake and his excursion to the southwestern frontier / Andrea Riemenschnitter -- Changing spaces of empire in eighteenth-century Qing China / Joanna Waley-Cohen -- Kirghiz nomads on the Qing frontier: tribute, trade, or gift exchange? / Nicola De Cosmo -- Envisioning new borders for the old China in late Qing fiction and local drama / Daphne Pi-Wei Lei.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

"Boundaries - demarcating physical space, enclosing political entities, and distinguishing social or ethnic groups - constitute an essential aspect of historical investigation. Obscured by the influence upon scholars of a myth of unitarian historical and cultural development, not until recently have questions pertaining to boundaries come to represent a fertile ground in the analysis of Chinese history and society.".

"In addition to history, the disciplines represented in this book include anthropology (particularly ethnography), religion, art history, and literary studies. Each of the authors focuses on a distinct period, beginning with the Zhou dynasty (c. 1100 B.C.E.) and ending with the early centuries after the Manchu conquest (c. 1800 C.E.) resulting in a chronological sweep of nearly three millennia."--BOOK JACKET.