Die Hoheit über die Erinnerung—Der Herrscher und das Erinnern in China

Chapter Summary

This chapter discusses the collection and fault activity of Chinese history in late imperial period. In this period there was an especially interesting collection activities of the elite, especially the Confucian elite of scholar's officials. The chapter describes the work of the Chinese imperial court and also the imperial administration that was firmly considered to be an institutionalized. It reviews the censorship of documents, especially the largest collection of traditional scriptures and the imperial literary collective project Siku Quanshu. The relationship between power and knowledge is more than obvious and is indeed proverbial. Control over the knowledge of the past was essential for the management of the Empire, which was closely linked to the political self-image of China. As a legacy of the early modern Chinese this huge government project is thus both testimonies of remembrance as well as of forgetfulness. The original text of the chapter is in German.

Keywords: Chinese imperial court; collection activity; Confucian elite; imperial administration; Siku Quanshu