This innovative collection opens a door into the rich history of animals in China. This title is also available as Open Access.

1. Shang sacrificial animals material documents and images Adam C. Schwartz; 2. Animal to edible the ritualization of animals in early China Roel Sterckx; 3. Noble creatures filial and righteous animals in early medieval Confucian thought Keith N. Knapp; 4. Walking by itself the singular history of the Chinese cat Timothy H. Barrett and Mark Strange; 5. Bees in China a brief cultural history David Pattinson; 6. Where did the animals go? Presence and absence of livestock in Chinese agricultural treatises Francesca Bray; 7. Animals as text producing and consuming 'text-animals' Martina Siebert; 8. Great plans song dynastic (960-1279) institutions for human and veterinary healthcare Han Yi and Dagmar Schäfer; 9. Animals in nineteenth-century eschatological discourse Vincent Goossaert; 10. Reconsidering the boundaries multicultural and multilingual perspectives on the care and management of the emperors' horses in the Qing Sare Aricanli; 11. Animals as wonders writing commentaries on monthly ordinances in Qing China Zheng Xinxian; 12. Reforming the humble pig pigs, pork and contemporary China Mindi Schneider.