LIBRARY REPORT
The topic I have chosen to research is the transition from the Ming Dynasty to the Qing Qing Dynasty. This can sometimes be referred to as the Manchu conquest of China. This was a period in Chinese history in which there were many conflicts, between Ming and Qing, which lasted from 1618 to 1683. The period ended with the fall of the Ming Dynasty and the rise of the Qing, a period which came to be known as The Great Qing. To gather resources on this area I used DiscoverEd and typed in keywords such as “Qing Dynasty” and “Great Qing” and “Ming to Qing transition”. To effectively search for the specific resources, I needed I used the filters to refine my search such as selecting “books” or “articles”. On finding the resources I was able to either access them online or collect them from the Main Library.
1.
Title: “The Qing Dynasty and Traditional Chinese Culture”
Author: Richard J Smith
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Referencing: Smith, R. (2015). The Qing Dynasty and traditional Chinese culture. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.
Whilst the book donates a few chapters exclusively to the details of the rise of the Ming Dynasty through to fall of the Qing Dynasty, a large section of the book discusses China more generally and gives a broad depiction of China’s culture, language and traditions. The first two sections of the book informed me on the evolution of the Ming empire, the transition and the success of the Qing dynasty after 1644. These chapters involved the political form of the dynasties as well as the showing the cultural side which meant I could make clear comparisons and detect similarities between the two. By covering so many areas of Chinese history and culture such as “Social Classes” and “Popular Religion”, it allowed me to further understand the transition from Ming to Qing as I could create links with the past that explain parts of the Ming Culture that I previously didn’t understand. Within it there was also a brief but comprehensive explanation on the fall of the Ming and the rise of the Qing from pages 50-62. This particular chapter was the most successful in improving my understanding of the topic as within these pages the events were arranged chronologically, and this created an easy, clear read.
2.
Title: “China’s Last Empire: The Great Qing”
Author: William T Rowe
Publisher: Belknap Press October 15th 2009
Referencing: Rowe, W. (2009). China’s Last Empire: The Great Qing. Belknap Press.
The book discusses China’s last empire. It is relevant to my topic as I believe to have a full understanding of the transition I need to understand the differences between the two empires. Rowe’s book is well structured in that it takes each aspect of Qing China and breaks it down into chapters that discuss each factor in detail. I also found that the introduction to the book gave a concise description of late imperial China which includes both the Ming and Qing reign.
I do not think that Rowe’s work argues a particular point and instead shares an unbiased view of the events of the Qing dynasty, which I would say makes for an interesting read as you are left to form your own subjective opinions on the Great Qing. I found that his book managed to give a detailed account of the period when the Qing ruled China however I feel that by pulling connections from the Ming dynasty or from after the fall of The Great Qing, Rowe could have created a stronger, more in-depth telling of the period.
3.
Title: The Journal of Asian Studies – Book Review of “China’s Last Empire: The Great Qing”.
Author: Reviewed by Antonia Finnane
Publisher: Association for Asian Studies
Referencing: Finnane, A. (2011). The Journal of Asian Studies, 70(2), 545-547. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/stable/41302339
My third source was an article from The Journal of Asian Studies. This journal is quarterly published by the Association for Asian Studies. The article I read was on pages 545 through 547 and it is a book review of William T Rowe’s work on the Great Qing called “China’s Last Empire: The Great Qing”. It discusses in what ways Rowe manages to focus on particular areas of the Qing Dynasty such as “gender relations and ethnicity”. It is relevant to my topic as to understand the transition between empires, I needed to first understand the two separately in order to comprehend and form connections between the two periods. After reading Rowe’s book I didn’t feel completely comfortable with the topic and decided that a summary of his works would allow me to improve my understanding of the topic. The review shortly summarises the book yet details that is it not “so provocative” (page 546). By mentioning this I was able to read Rowe’s work more critically as I could expect to not feel a strong message being portrayed. This meant when I read Rowe’s book I was able to objectively find out information on the empire and when forming my own subjective views on his work I could relate to the review written in the journal.
4.
Title: The China Journal
Author: Wensheng Wang
Publisher: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University
Referencing: Wang. W. (2014). The China Journal, 71, 285-288. Retrieved from https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/stable/10.1086/674698?seq=2#metadata_info_tab_contents
This source was available through JSTOR, a digital collection, and is part of a book of reviews published by The University of Chicago Press. It is another review of William T Rowe’s work on The Great Qing and it critically analyses the points Rowe makes, particularly in regard to how the Qing Dynasty had to adapt to a number of problems in the 19th century such as pressure from the Western world and how this affected Chinese politics. This is relevant to my topic as it aids my understanding of the complexity of Rowe’s book and also allows me to see flaws in his writing that could have led misconceived ideas being formed. This review focused more specifically on the writer’s opinion of Western input into the country’s problems such as their pressure to sell opium within the country. In her review she emphasises that the book should have been more focused on the Jiaqing reign which had more of an impact in China’s last empire.
Summary:
Overall, I found Smith’s book to be of most help towards my understanding of the topic as his broad knowledge of the country and the culture meant I could understand China’s difficulties over many years rather than only focusing solely on the period I am researching. The two reviews of William T Rowe’s work were useful in aiding my understanding of his work and I would use this method of looking at reviews of my sources in future research as it also helped me to see the reliability of his work before using it.
Bibliography
1. Smith, R. (2015). The Qing Dynasty and traditional Chinese culture. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.
2. Rowe, W. (2009). China’s Last Empire: The Great Qing. Belknap Press.
3. Finnane, A. (2011). The Journal of Asian Studies, 70(2), 545-547. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/stable/41302339
4. Wang. W. (2014). The China Journal, 71, 285-288. Retrieved from https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/stable/10.1086/674698?seq=2#metadata_info_tab_contents