Rereading Modern Chinese History (Brill's Humanities in China Library)

Rereading Modern Chinese History is a collection of short essays on aspects of the history of the Qing dynasty, a regime dominated by Manchus that ruled China from 1644 to 1911. Using sources from that period and earlier, the book addresses key themes on the nature of Qing rule.This book is a result of the translation license agreement between Zhongxi Book Company, ShanghaiCenturyPublishingGroup and Koninklijke Brill NV. This book is translated into English from theoriginal《重读近代史》(朱维铮著)(Chong du jindai shi, by Zhu Weizheng) with financial support from the China Classics International ofthe General Administration of Press and Publicat Contents Series Editors’ Foreword Preface: Rereading Modern Chinese History Part 1 Historical Uncertainties Essay 1 ‘Backward Therefore Beaten’? Essay 2 Questioning the Theory of the ‘Two Cannons’ Essay 3 Three Questions on ‘Opening Their Eyes and Seeing the World’ 1 Who First Gazed on the Other Side of the World? 2 Can It Be That the Chinese Could Only Open Their Eyes When They Saw Silver? 3 Can It Be Said That the Ancestors Closed Their Eyes and Blocked Their Ears? Essay 4 The Logic of ‘Being Modernised’ Essay 5 Qing History and Modern History Essay 6 The Necessity of Rereading Modern History Part 2 Looking Back Essay 7 Looking Back on the History of ‘Reform’ in the Qing Dynasty Essay 8 Origins of ‘Reform’ Essay 9 Resurrecting the ‘Statement of Accounts’ Tax Evasion Case 1661 Essay 10 ‘A Tertius is Not Worth a Single Cent’ Essay 11 Manchus Inside, Han Outside and the Emphasis on Civil Over Military Affairs Essay 12 Manchu Han Twin-Track System (1) Essay 13 Manchu-Han ‘Twin-Track System’ (2) Essay 14 Change and Interchange of Heaven and Man Essay 15 Looking Back at the Reign of the Yongzheng Emperor from the Qianlong Period Essay 16 Fake Draft Memorial in the Name of Sun Jiagan Essay 17 Literary Inquisition after the Death of Mao Qiling Essay 18 Official History, Unofficial History and Jottings in the Qing Dynasty Part 3 On Reform or Modernisation Essay 19 Dealing with Corruption under the Jiaqing Emperor Essay 20 Looking at the Jiaqing ‘Reforms’ or ‘Modernisation’ Essay 21 The Emperor’s Penitential Decree Essay 22 The Qing Emperor Makes a Show of Conciliatingthe British Ambassador Essay 23 Napoleon Criticises the British Essay 24 The Jiaqing Emperor and Napoleon Essay 25 Purchase of Office during the Manchu QingDynasty Essay 26 The Systematisation of Purchase of Office in the ‘High Qing’ Essay 27 ‘Varieties’ of Purchase of Office Essay 28 The Promotion of Purchasing Office Essay 29 The Buying and Selling of Office in Fiction Essay 30 Honest Officials and the Purchase of Office Essay 31 Bao Shichen’s on Accumulated Wealth (Shuochu) Part 4 The History of Opium Essay 32 Opium from Medicine to Narcotic Essay 33 Another Look at the Opium War Essay 34 Was the Daoguang Emperor ‘Pitiful’? Essay 35 Lin Zexu and Gong Zizhen Essay 36 It is Necessary to Say More about Gong Zizhen Essay 37 ‘Attacking Poison with Poison’ Essay 38 Residual Doubts and Queries after the Opium War Part 5 Gods and Sages Essay 39 ‘The Way of the Gods Established the Teachings’ in the Qing Dynasty Essay 40 The ‘Present Holy Sage’ in Qing History Essay 41 How Did Military Sages Prevail over Civilian Sages? Essay 42 Ji Yun and ‘Basing Religious Teachings on the Divine Way’ Essay 43 The Dual Effect of ‘Basing Religious Teachings on the Divine Way’ Essay 44 The Defeated Heavenly Kingdom Essay 45 Issachar Roberts and Hong Xiuquan Essay 46 Another Look at ‘Internal Strife in the Heavenly Capital’ Essay 47 Plundering the Image of Taiping History Overseas Essay 48 Zeng Guofan Gasps at ‘Strange Changes to the Confucian Code’ Essay 49 Two Sages: Washington and Napoleon (I) Essay 50 Two Sages: Washington and Napoleon (II) Part 6 Rapidly Changing Times Essay 51 The Disintegration of Power in the Late Qing (I) Essay 52 The Disintegration of Power in the Late Qing (II) Essay 53 ‘Establishing a Reservoir’, the Selection of a Crown Prince (I) Essay 54 ‘Establishing a Reservoir’, the Selection of a Crown Prince (II) Essay 55 ‘Summons to Interview’ under the Daoguangand Xianfeng Emperors (I) Essay 56 ‘Summons to Interview’ under the Daoguangand Xianfeng Emperors (II) Essay 57 Eleven Years of the Xianfeng Reign Essay 58 A Historical Paradox Essay 59 The Burning of the Old Summer Palace Essay 60 More on the Burning of the Old Summer Palace Essay 61 Sushun Essay 62 The Coup against the Regency and Sushun Essay 63 Sheng Bao’s Fall and Rise Essay 64 To the End of the Xianfeng Reign Part 7 Problems of Political Reform Essay 65 Learn from the Barbarians or Control the Barbarians? Essay 66 Feng Guifen’s Protest from the Jiaobin Studio Essay 67 The Grand Council in the Late Qing Period Essay 68 Methods of Confucian Scholars during the Qing Essay 69 Record of the Difficult Birth of the Zongli Yamen Essay 70 Wenxiang and the Zongli Yamen Essay 71 Wang Maoyin and Late Qing Views on Foreign Relations Essay 72 Name and Reality of the Zongli Yamen in the Late Qing Period Essay 73 Did the Manchu Qing ‘Inherit a Worn Out Process of Change’? Part 8 Remembering the Empress Dowager Cixi Essay 74 From Xianfeng to Cixi Essay 75 The Legality of Cixi’s Regency Essay 76 Shengbao and Cixi Essay 77 Shengbao Had to Die Essay 78 Cixi Does Away with the Conventions of the Manchu Qing Essay 79 Empress Cixi Essay 80 Who was Responsible for the Defeat in the 1894–5 War with Japan? Essay 81 The Empire Terminated by Cixi Postscript Index Transl. by Michael Dillon. 0This book is a collection of short essays on aspects of the history of the Qing dynasty, a regime dominated by Manchus that ruled China from 1644 to 1911. Using sources from that period and earlier it addresses key themes on the nature of Qing rule. These include the defeat by the British in the Opium Wars, the twin-track administration of Manchus and Han Chinese, the rise of Chinese military leaders in southern China, the purchase of office and endemic corruption, the challenge of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and the failure of political reform. There are new insights on all the Qing emperors and the Empress Dowager Cixi, who ruled China between 1861 and 1908 Rereading Modern Chinese History is a collection of short essays on aspects of the history of the Qing dynasty, a regime dominated by Manchus that ruled China from 1644 to 1911. Using sources from that period and earlier it addresses key themes on the nature of Qing rule. These include the defeat by the British in the Opium Wars, the twin-track administration of Manchus and Han Chinese, the rise of Chinese military leaders in southern China, the purchase of office and endemic corruption, the challenge of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and the failure of political reform. There are new insights on all the Qing emperors and the Empress Dowager Cixi, who ruled China between 1861 and 1908.