Immortals, Festivals and Poetry in Medieval China: Studies in Social and Intellectual History (Variorum Collected Studies Series)

The papers in this volume are concerned with the themes of religion, poetry and song in early medieval China. Religion is to the fore in the first two sections, dealing with Daoist immortals and their cult, as reflected in poetic works of the first three centuries AD. Also examined are the songs used in religious ceremonies and the origins and history of the cold food festival. The last group of articles includes a major study of the poems of Ji Kang (223-262) as well as other poetry of the 4th-5th centuries, and an analysis of the changing image of the merchant from the 4th to the 9th centuries.