Ideas, ideals, and values formed during these centuries shaped the political trajectory of the Chinese empire for millennia to come and some of them remain relevant well into our days. How these ideas were formed, debated, and modified, what was their transformative value and how they were adapted to the realities of pre-imperial and imperial ages are the questions Prof. Pines explores in most of his studies. His most recent project in this regard (ISF grant 511/11) was translation cum study of the Book of Lord Shang, one of the most controversial texts from early China. Visit here for a sample of related articles.

Prof. Pines's second research focus of is early Chinese historiography. Historical and quasi-historical texts created during the Springs-and-Autumns and the Warring States periods provide important clues to the political, social, economic, and military realities that shaped ideological choices of that age. But how reliable our sources are? To answer these questions we should ask: how were historical records produced, by whom, and for which audience? What were the goals of recording history and how were historical records used and abused in political controversies of that age? Prof. Pines's exploration of these topics started with the study of the Zuo zhuan 左傳—the largest and by far the most important historical text of pre-imperial era—and continues through analysis of other historical and quasi-historical texts. His current research (ISF grant 240/15) focuses on the unearthed historigraphical manuscripts from the state of Chu that shed a new light on our understanding of early Chinese history writing. For a sample of publications, see here and here.

Prof. Pines's third research interest is analyzing strengths and weaknesses of Chinese empire from a comparative perspective. Manifold similarities between Chinese empire and those of other large continental empires in Eurasia both in terms of challenges faced and in replies to these challenges are undeniable. How then Chinese empire did attain much higher longevity than any comparable polity worldwide and what was the price of this achievement? In his earlier studies, Prof. Pines emphasized the empire’s exceptional ideological prowess: its fundamental ideological orientations were shaped long before it was formed, and their hegemonic position was never challenged prior to the end of the 19th century. Currently Prof. Pines is participating in a collaborative project co-organized by Michal Biran, Eva Cancik-Kirschbaum, Jörg Rüpke and himself that focuses on a systematic analysis of Eurasian imperial entities.

In addition to these grand questions, Prof. Pines explores from time to time issues in political history of early China; the impact of regional ethno-cultural identities on political dynamics of pre-imperial and early imperial age; topics related to early Chinese religion; the impact of early Chinese ideology on subsequent intellectual trajectory of imperial and post-imperial China; and so forth.

Yuri Pines׳ Research Projects

Current research projects

China in the Aristocratic Age: The Springs-and-Autumns Period Revisited

The Springs-and-Autumns period (Chunqiu 春秋, 770-453 BCE) is often paired with the
subsequent Warring States period (Zhanguo 戰國, 453-221 BCE) as the formative age of
Chinese civilization. At a closer look, however, the Springs-and-Autumns period appears
dramatically different from what is often associated with normative orientations of Chinese
social and political life. It was the age when political fragmentation was considered a norm and
not an aberration, when many states were moving from monarchic to de-facto oligarchic form of
rule, when political participation of the lower strata was acceptable and even partly
institutionalized, when pedigree mattered much more than abilities in determining the
individual’s career, and when the lineage cohesiveness was subversive of rather than conducive
to preserving the sociopolitical order. In many respects, therefore, the Springs-and-Autumns
period appears as an inversion of traditional Chinese political values rather than their
affirmation. Reevaluating this age and its place in the larger picture of China’s history is the goal
of the proposed research. By integrating the existent secondary studies with the new perspectives
on traditional textual sources and their reliability, and with the newly available material and
paleographic data I hope to be able not only to re-chart the Springs-and-Autumns-period social,
political, and cultural history, but also provide a new understanding of this period’s place within
the longue durée of China’s sociopolitical development. (The project is supported by ISF grant 568/19)

Studies in comparative imperial history

This multi-participants international collaborative project aims to create a comparative framework through which we can analyze fundamental functioning parameters of pre-moder and early modern Eurasian empires. The project started in 2015 and is currently run by five colleagues: Michal Biran (Hebrew University), Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna,  Karen Radner, LMU Munich,  Jörg Rüpke , University of Erfurt, and myself.  Our two first meetings focused on the empires’ spatial dimensions (see details here and the resultant book here) and on empires and religions (see here). The next leg, planned for 2023, will explore the imperial elites and different ways employed to control or co-opt them. Two further meetings will focus on the role of the emperors and the place of the
military in the empires’ history. We hope that our project will highlight differences, similarities, and mutual influences among different imperial models and contribute to our understanding of what is an empire and how empires functioned in different civilizational settings.

Recent Research Projects

Rethinking early Chinese historiography in light of newly discovered historical texts

For generations scholars have been puzzled by the stark contrast between the overarching importance of history-writing in imperial China and the meagerness of historical texts from the centuries preceding the imperial unification of 221 BCE. Recently, however, a series of newly discovered bamboo manuscripts from the Warring States period (453-221 BCE) have allowed us to reappraise the history of early Chinese historiography. These manuscripts, the most notable of which is the historical text Xinian 繫年 (String of years or Linked years) from the state of Chu, shed new light on the questions related to the production, circulation, and audience of historical texts in early China, their different political, ritual, and ideological usages, and their roles in the cultural and intellectual dynamics of China’s extraordinarily vibrant pre-imperial age. My studies of the text culminated with its translation cum study  be published in 2020. The
major byproduct was a new engagement with Zuozhuan 左傳, the major—and hugely controversial—historical text that covers the Springs-and-Autumns period. Zuozhuan stood at the center of the international workshop “Rethinking Early Chinese Historiography” (May 2019; ISF grant 978/18). The workshop resulted in two forthcoming publications—a volume Zuozhuan and Early Chinese Historiography co-edited by myself, Martin Kern, and Nino Luraghi, and a special issue of the Hebrew journal Historia focused on comparative early historiography (due to be published in 2022; co-edited by myself and Alexander Yakobson). The research was supported by ISF grant 240/15.

The Book of Lord Shang: the ideology of the total state

Around 2011, I started exploring the ideology of the Book of Lord Shang (Shangjunshu 商君書),
a hugely controversial attributed to Shang Yang 商鞅 (d. 338 BCE) but penned partly by Shang Yang’s later followers. The abundance of appalling statements in this text, as well as its bad state of preservation and relatively low literary qualities hindered in-depth study of its content, particularly in Western Sinology. In my publications, crowned with my translation cum study of the text I tried to show its underlying logic, elucidate the richness of its philosophical content, contextualize it in sociopolitical realities of the Warring States period, and highlight its intellectual boldness (that research was supported by ISF grant 511/11). Currently, my attention shifts to a closely related text, Han Feizi 韓非子, attributed to Han Fei 韓非 (d. 233 BCE). Originally, I was attracted to Han Feizi primarily because of its tragic dimensions: Han Fei was fully committed to the idea of autocratic rule and was simultaneously fully aware that the autocrat himself is the weakest part of the political system. Now am moving further to explore Han Feizi’s intellectual sophistication and unusual skill with which this controversial text undermines moralizing discourse of self-serving intellectuals. Yet the brilliance with which the thinker exposes the machinations of rival intellectuals contains the seeds of another tragedy: that of an intellectual who warns that no intellectual should be trusted. One of the forthcoming outcomes of this engagement is a volume which am editing for Springer, Dao Companion to China’s fa traditions: The Philosophy of Governance by Impartial Standards.

Research Publications

Major recent publications (2020-2022)

• Yuri Pines, Zhou History Unearthed: The Bamboo Manuscript Xinian and Early Chinese Historiography. New York: Columbia University Press (Translations from the Asian Classics Series), 2020. (Winner, Polonsky Prize for Creativity and Originality in the Humanistic Disciplines, 2021).
• Yuri Pines, Michal Biran, Jörg Rüpke, eds., The Limits of Universal Rule: Eurasian Empires Compared. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2021
• Li Wai-yee and Yuri Pines, eds., Keywords in Chinese Culture. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 2020.
• “Didactic Narrative and the Art of Self-Strengthening: Reading the Bamboo Manuscript Yue gong qi shi 越公其事,” Early China 2022.
• 从《商君书•徕民》看“商鞅学派”的思想变迁——兼论战国晚期秦国人口及军事变化 (Intellectual change within “Shang Yang’s school” as observed from “Attracting the People” chapter of the Book of Lord Shang: also discussing demographic and military changes in the late Warring States-period state of Qin). Jiang Huai luntan 江淮论坛 6 (2021), 5-13.
• “De in the Zuozhuan,” Journal of Chinese Philosophy 48 (2021): 130-142.
• “Names and Titles in Eastern Zhou Texts,” T’oung Pao 106.3 (2020): 228-234 (714-720).
• Juan Carlos Moreno García and Yuri Pines, “Maat and Tianxia: Building world orders in ancient Egypt and China.” Journal of Egyptian History 13 (2020): 227-270.
• “Limits of All-under-Heaven: Ideology and Praxis of ‘Great Unity’ in Early Chinese Empire.” In: The Limits of Universal Rule: Eurasian Empires Compared, ed. Yuri Pines, Michal Biran, and Jörg Rüpke, 79-110. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021.
• “‘To die for the Sanctity of the Name’: Name (ming 名) as prime-mover of political action in early China.” In: Keywords in Chinese Culture, eds. Li Wai-yee and Yuri Pines, 169-218. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 2020. Major Previous Monographs and Edited Volumes
• The Book of Lord Shang: Apologetics of State Power in Early China. New York: Columbia University Press (Translations from the Asian Classics Series), 2017. (Winner, 2018 Choice Outstanding Academic Title).
  - Paperback edition (abridged and revised): 2019.
• The Everlasting Empire: The Political Culture of Ancient China and Its Imperial Legacy. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 2012.
• Envisioning Eternal Empire: Chinese Political Thought of the Warring States Era. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2009. (Winner: Polonsky Prize for Creativity and Originality in the Humanistic Disciplines)
  - L’invention de la Chine éternelle: Comment les maîtres-penseurs des Royaumes combattants ont construit l’empire le plus long de l’histoire (Ve - IIIe siècles av. J.-C.), translated by Damien Chaussende. Paris: Belles Lettres, 2013.
  - Zhanwang yongheng diguo: Zhanguo shidai de Zhongguo zhengzhi sixiang shi 展望永恒帝国：战国时代的中国政治思想, translated by Sun Yinggang 孫英剛. Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2013 ; hardback edition 2018.
• Foundations of Confucian Thought: Intellectual Life in the Chunqiu Period, 722-453 B.C.E. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2002.
• Yuri Pines, Paul R. Goldin, and Martin Kern, eds., Ideology of Power and Power of Ideology in Early China. Leiden: Brill, 2015.
• Yuri Pines, Lothar von Falkenhausen, Gideon Shelach and Robin D.S. Yates, eds., Birth of an Empire: The State of Qin revisited. (New Perspectives on Chinese Culture and Society). Berkeley: University of California Press, 2014.