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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Best History of the Ming,
By
This review is from: The Cambridge History of China, Vol. 7: The Ming Dynasty, 1368-1644, Part 1 (Hardcover)
This book and its companion volume (#8) provides the best history of China under the Ming in the English language. Period. It goes into details on all the Ming Emperors, their political problems, and their solutions (or lack of solutions). Given the level of detail and the length of the book (1000 pages) it is very readable and it offers a fascinating look at a culture and government which is, I would argue, poorly understood today.
This book offers a consensus view on the Ming, and includes the work of many highly respected historians who contributed to the book including C. Hucker (the expert in Ming government), Ray Huang (the expert on Ming finances), and F. Mote (who taught Chinese history at Princeton for more than 40 years). Historical attitudes towards the Ming have changed from the 1960s and this book reflects our new understanding of how the state actually functioned. To pick one obvious detail: the Ming government was less autocratic and more under the control of the Mandarins than was previously thought. The fall of the Ming is told both here and in Volume 9 (also highly recommended). |
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The Cambridge History of China, Vol. 7: The Ming Dynasty, 1368-1644, Part 1 by Denis Twitchett (Hardcover - February 26, 1988)
$254.00
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