In an absorbing account of a frontier family's rise to local eminence, from pioneer hardship to gentry affluence, Johanna Meskill presents not just a family history but a social history of late imperial China. The narrative centers on a half dozen major figures whose fame or infamy shaped family fortunes and is interwoven with an analysis of several larger themes: the dynamics of the settlement process; the role of violence in popular culture; patterns of upward mobility; the continuing vigor of gentry culture. Available for the first time in paperback, this History Book Club selection includes numerous illustrations from family and other contemporary sources. "It is a piece of local historical research . . . yet it is also a book about all of Taiwan and indeed all of China-as good a book as we are likely to encounter for some time."-Eric Widmer, Brown University, History Book Club prospectus. "Meskill's aim in this book was to look at Chinese society and history from the ground up rather than, as is usually the case, from the top down. . . . In this, she has succeeded brilliantly. There is, as yet, no other work with a comparable perspective."-Edward Rhoads, History "Possibly the best historical account of a Chinese gentry family (aside from autobiographical and fictional renditions) available in the English language . . . a milestone in the field of Chinese local history."-Harry Lamley, Journal of Asian Studies "A major addition to the expanding field of Ch'ing Chinese Studies." -Ching-chih Chen, American Historical Review Johanna Menzel Meskill is Professor of History at Herbert H. Lehman College, The City University of New York. Sponsored by the East Asian Institute, Columbia University
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
MUST-read resource on Taiwan history & culture.,
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This review is from: Chinese Pioneer Family: The Lins of Wu-Feng, Taiwan, 1729-1895 (Studies of the East Asian Institute) (Hardcover)
This is a first-choice, must-read book on Taiwan history and culture. It covers most of Taiwan's frontier period as well as colonial era. If you really want to get a feel of what life was like in early Taiwan, this is the book for you. Very accurate and well-written, it reads like a novel. Definitely required reading, I highly recommend it for not just scholarly work, but also for purely pleasure reading.
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Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs):
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strongman family, implicated officials, ritual trust, genealogy reports, frontier entrepreneurs, local strongman, surname group, local strongmen Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Upper Valley, Lin Shih, Lower House, Liu Ming-ch'uan, Upper House, East Asian Library, Ling Ting-kuo, Lin Wen-ch'a, Columbia University, Lin Shuang-wen, Wu-feng Lins, Lin Pen-tang, Lin Ying-shih, Lin Ch'ao-tung, Tai Wan-sheng, Lin Jih-ch'eng, Lin Ho-shang, Tso Tsung-t'ang, Miss Yang, Ta-chia River, Lin Wen-ming, Ting Yüeh-chien, Taiwan Strait, Lin Hsien-t'ang, Ch'ing Taiwan Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
strongman family, implicated officials, ritual trust, genealogy reports, frontier entrepreneurs, local strongman, surname group, local strongmen Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Upper Valley, Lin Shih, Lower House, Liu Ming-ch'uan, Upper House, East Asian Library, Ling Ting-kuo, Lin Wen-ch'a, Columbia University, Lin Shuang-wen, Wu-feng Lins, Lin Pen-tang, Lin Ying-shih, Lin Ch'ao-tung, Tai Wan-sheng, Lin Jih-ch'eng, Lin Ho-shang, Tso Tsung-t'ang, Miss Yang, Ta-chia River, Lin Wen-ming, Ting Yüeh-chien, Taiwan Strait, Lin Hsien-t'ang, Ch'ing Taiwan Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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6
books
cite this book:
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- Community, Trade, and Networks: Southern Fujian Province from the Third to the Thirteenth Century (Cambridge Studies in Chinese History, Literature and Institutions) by Hugh R. Clark in Back Matter
- Under Confucian Eyes: Writings on Gender in Chinese History by Susan Mann in Back Matter
- Taoist Ritual and Popular Cults of Southeast China by Kenneth Dean in Back Matter
- A History of Chinese Civilization by Jacques Gernet in Back Matter
- Doctors within Borders: Profession, Ethnicity, and Modernity in Colonial Taiwan by Ming-cheng M. Lo in Back Matter
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