The Geography of the Western Han Vassal States

Drawing on surviving texts and excavated documents, this book investigates the locations of nearly eight hundred marquisates in the Western Han. It also uses a "horizontal cross-section" method to reconstruct the geographical distribution of seven Western Han marquisates with clearly defined dates, summarizes the overall trends in the development and evolution of their regional distribution, and reveals changes in political systems and policies that had previously gone unnoticed. This is the first monograph devoted to the geographical distribution of Western Han marquisates.