This informative, erudite, and thought-provoking account of Confucianism accomplishes the rare feat of intriguing both beginners and experts alike. Readers new to the subject will find its historical survey of this quintessential element of Chinese and East Asian culture relatable and fascinating. Students of Chinese thought and of comparative philosophy and religion will find its conceptual triad of Li, qing, and li innovatively capacious and solidly grounded, uniquely suitable for capturing the multi-dimensional reality of Confucianism as a historical and living tradition. The substantial integration of the pre-Confucian archeological record and of anthropological fieldwork showing how Confucianism is practiced in rural and urban settings today offers a timely corrective to the predominant Euro-American narrative of this tradition that has tended to reduce it to little more than the teachings of the Confucian classics and their Neo-Confucian orthodox commentaries.
