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Dr. Olberding is at work on a book that uses the military
memorials of the Former Han Dynasty (ca. 200 BCE - 8
CE) to explore the employment of evidence in early Chinese
imperial court discourse. Relying on a close reading
of various exemplars—many translated into English
for the first time—the book will investigate why
some evidentiary claims attracted consent and others
provoked controversy or objection. The study ultimately
aims to render more transparent the decision processes
that informed early Chinese military campaigns as well
as the causal arc of the historical records representing
these decisions. Dr. Olberding has also recently completed
an article to be published in a forthcoming book, Debating
War in Chinese History, edited by Peter Lorge (Brill).
In the Spring of 2009, Dr. Olberding will be hosting a workshop titled “Addressing the Autocrat: The Drama of Early Chinese Court Discourse” that will bring to campus leading scholars in the field of Early China. His course offerings include “China’s
Art of War,” “East Asia to 1600,”
“Early Imperial China” and “Classical
China.” Dr. Olberding received his Ph.D. from
the University of Chicago in 2007.
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