Description
Book SynopsisThe ledgers of merit and demerit were a type of morality book that achieved sudden and widespread popularity in China during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Consisting of lists of good and bad deeds, each assigned a certain number of merit or demerit points, the ledgers offered the hope of divine reward to users "good" enough to accumulate
Table of Contents*FrontMatter, pg. i*Contents, pg. vii*Acknowledgments, pg. ix*Abbreviations, pg. xi*Introduction, pg. 3*CHAPTER ONE. Merit Accumulation in the Early Chinese Tradition, pg. 28*CHAPTER TWO. Merit Accumulation for Status Advancement, pg. 61*CHAPTER THREE. The Debate over Supernatural Retribution and Merit Accumulation, pg. 110*CHAPTER FOUR. Preserving the Social Hierarchy in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, pg. 157*Conclusion, pg. 229*APPENDIX. Extant Morality Books and Ledgers of Merit and Demerit Published in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, pg. 241*Glossary, pg. 243*Sources Cited, pg. 261*Index, pg. 277
