Technicians and Artisans of Heaven-and-Earth: Imperial Memories of Diviners, Physicians, and Craftsmen from Mid-Medieval China (Prognostication in History, 12)

Book info: Technicians and Artisans of Heaven-and-Earth: Imperial Memories of Diviners, Physicians, and Craftsmen from Mid-Medieval China (Prognostication in History, 12) (Hardcover, 430 pages) – Brill, 2025. Language: English.

Technicians and Artisans and Heaven-and-Earth reconstructs memories of significant but often overlooked figures from a remarkably diverse yet understudied period of Chinese history. The book includes translations of three biographical collections from the official dynastic histories of the Northern Wei, Northern Zhou, and Sui featuring the lives of “technicians and artisans.” Through a comparative, intertextual, and literary analysis of these works, Stephan N. Kory not only sheds light on the roles and functions of diviners, physicians, and craftsmen in the imperial courts of mid-medieval North China, but also provides us with fascinating insights into medieval Chinese court life and society. Editorial Reviews About the Author Stephan N. Kory, Ph.D. (2012), Indiana University, is Professor of Chinese Studies at the University of Florida. He has published several articles on premodern China and Japan, including “Presence in Variety: De-Trivializing Female Diviners in Medieval China” (Nan Nü, 2016).