Forming the Early Chinese Court builds on new directions in comparative studies of royal courts in the ancient world to present a pioneering study of early Chinese court culture. Rejecting divides between literary, political, and administrative texts, Luke Habberstad examines sources from the Qin, Western Han, and Xin periods (221 BCE–23 CE) for insights into court society and ritual, rank, the development of the bureaucracy, and the role of the emperor. These diverse sources show that a large, but not necessarily cohesive, body of courtiers drove the consolidation, distribution, and representation of power in court institutions. Forming the Early Chinese Court encourages us to see China’s imperial unification as a surprisingly idiosyncratic process that allowed different actors to stake claims in a world of increasing population, wealth, and power.

"[P]roduced with great care and reads well, with interesting descriptions of the interconnection between sumptuary regulations and rank and the togetherness of imperial living quarters, audience halls, amusement parks, and official workspace. The book is an important contribution to the study of Chinese early imperial history."

"Forming the Early Chinese Court is an original, lucid, and insightful consideration of developments in Western Han governance."

"Habberstad should be congratulated for his book. Scholars of early Han history will surely benefit from his manifold astute observations."

"Habberstad approaches the “court” not as a thing . . . but as a complex set of evolving relations. The result is an adventurous account of the history of the Han that brings to light heretofore little-noted conversations, contention, and anxiety that were very much constitutive of the history of the Han empire."

"Forming the Early Chinese Court will be an informative and thought-provoking read not only to more specialized readers already acquainted with aspects of Han political culture, but also to students of Han government and the bureaucracy in Chinese history more generally."