Table of contents : Contents Acknowledgments A Note on Conventions Chronologies 1. The Rhetoric of Politics and the Politics of Rhetoric 2. Frames of Reference: Classical Hermeneutics and Historical Analogism 3. Categorical Propositions: Faction Theory and the Political Imagination of the Northern Song 4. Unified Theories of Division: Factional Rhetoric in the Reform Era, 1069–1085 The Closed Circle: Factional Rhetoric in the Antireform Era, 1085–1093 Retributive Justice. Factional Rhetoric in the Post-Reform Era, 1094–1104 7. Discourses of Authority and the Authority of Discourse Notes Glossary References Index About the Author