Xun Xu and the Politics of Precision in Third-Century AD China

This biography of the court scholar Xun Xu explores central areas of intellectual life in third-century China -- court lyrics, music, metrology, pitch systems, archeology, and historiography. It clarifies the relevant source texts in order to reveal fierce debates. Besides solving technical puzzles about the material details of court rites, the book unfolds factional struggles that developed into scholarly ones.