<p>This volume offers a concise overview of the classical period. Between an introductory chapter on the preceding centuries and a concluding chapter on the Chín Dynasty, six topical chapters -- The Economy, The State, The Serving Elite, War and Peace, The People, and Transcendence -- give a multifaceted sense of the classical period proper. Each chapter includes one or more &quot;methodological moments,&quot; which suggest how the textual problems have been solved, and 500 translated passages let the period speak with its own voice on topics from law to the mourning period for a parent, revealing both its ethnic and its philosophical diversity.</p>