The fiction, Emperor of China: Self-portrait of K’ang-Hsi, is written by Jonathan D. Spence in 1974. Based on various historical records and the letters written by K’ang Hsi Emperor, Spence creates a fictional memoir to describe K’ang Hsi’s later years. This book is divided into six chapters plus two appendixes. The first chapter, “In Motion”, illustrates his talents in hunting skills and his extensive knowledge on how to survive by taking the natural advantages during wars. The second chapter, “Ruling”, expresses K’ang Hsi’s opinions on how to rule the country. The third chapter, “Thinking”, compares the cultures and ideologies between the Western countries and China. The fourth chapter, “Growing Old”, shows his medical knowledge and how to apply in real life and medical clinic in the palace. The last chapter, “Son”, shows his father’s love toward his sons and the process and conflicts on the succession. The additional translated appendixes display K’ang Hsi’s seventeen letters and his final valedictory edict that hidden from the palace. Those original documents clearly the audience a clear idea of K’ang Hsi’s inner self. This book report will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of reading this book and how this book affects the reader.
Jonathan D. Spence creates a memoir to show K’ang Hsi from the first person narration. This technique immediately brings the reader into this remarkable emperor’s world. K’ang Hsi (1654-1722) was the third emperor in Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and he ruled China for 61 years (start from 1661 and end at 1722), which was the longest period throughout Chinese history. Han Chinese was the majority ethnicity in China and they ruled over China since the start of Chinese history. However, until Yuan D...
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...r in the family, Spence should also include some information about his wives and female. The only one female story in the book is his sick grandmother and how to take care her as an act of filial piety. Spence does not add K’ang Hsi’s family point of view. I am interested in K’ang Hsi’s daily family stories, because K’ang Hsi was a successful emperor from the historian’s opinion, however, I personally would be more interested in his private family life. Those family stories may make K’ang Hsi as fully as a man and an emperor.
From the political figure to a father of 56 sons and daughters in the family, Spence organizes all the information into this fictional memoir in order for the reader to understand K’ang Hsi’s talents and personal point of views. It provides a significant platform for reader to explore the heart from a Qing Emperor who ruled China for 61 years.
In 1776, David McCullough gives a vivid portrayal of the Continental Army from October 1775 through January 1777, with sharp focus on the leadership of America’s greatest hero, George Washington. McCullough’s thesis is that had not the right man (George Washington) been leading the Continental Army in 1776, the American Revolution would have resulted in a vastly different outcome. He supports his argument with a critical analysis of Washington’s leadership during the period from the Siege of Boston, through the disastrous defense of New York City, the desperate yet, well ordered retreat through New Jersey against overwhelming odds, and concludes with the inspiring victories of Trenton and Princeton. By keeping his army intact and persevering through 1776, Washington demonstrated to the British Army that the Continental Army was not simply a gang of rabble, but a viable fighting force. Additionally, Mr. McCullough supports his premise that the key to the survival of the American Revolution was not in the defense of Boston, New York City, or any other vital terrain, but rather the survival of the Continental Army itself. A masterful piece of history, 1776 is not a dry retelling of the Revolutionary War, but a compelling character study of George Washington, as well as his key lieutenants, and his British adversaries, the most powerful Army in the 18th Century world. When I read this book, I went from a casual understanding of the hero George Washington to a more specific understanding of why Washington was quite literally the exact right man at the exact right place and time to enable the birth of the United States.
Chapter 1: The Wan-Li Emperor, begins by explaining the major premise of the work: The concept of looking at a single year in the history of the leadership of China and evaluating the implications for understanding other aspects of history, including the decline of the Ming Dynasty. In this initial chapter, Huang provides an anecdotal history of some of the events that occurred, and includes within it a discussion of the set up of the leadership, the repercussions that occurred in the event of certain actions, including the prospects of an audience with the emperor. Huang reviews these issues as he considers that actions taken by the Wan-li emperor, who was only twenty-four in 1587 and who had been a veteran of ceremonial proceedings, and considers his history as an element of understanding the progression of leadership.
The Death of Woman Wang, by Jonathan Spence is an educational historical novel of northeastern China during the seventeenth century. The author's focus was to enlighten a reader on the Chinese people, culture, and traditions. Spence's use of the provoking stories of the Chinese county T'an-ch'eng, in the province of Shantung, brings the reader directly into the course of Chinese history. The use of the sources available to Spence, such as the Local History of T'an-ch'eng, the scholar-official Huang Liu-hung's handbook and stories of the writer P'u Sung-Ling convey the reader directly into the lives of poor farmers, their workers and wives. The intriguing structure of The Death of Woman Wang consists on observing these people working on the land, their family structure, and their local conflicts.
The Cultural Revolution in China was led by Mao Zedong, due to this Liang and many others faced overwhelming obstacles in many aspects of their life such as work, family and everyday encounters, if affected everyone’s families life and education, Liang lets us experience his everyday struggles during this era, where the government determined almost every aspect of life. The beginning of the book starts out with Liang’s typical life, which seems normal, he has a family which consists of three children, two older sisters and him the youngest, his two sister’s reside in Changsha 1. his father has an everyday occupation working as a journalist at a local newspaper. Things start to take a turn early in life for Liang Heng, his family politics were always questioned, the mistake made by one of his family members would impact his entire family and it would be something they would have to suffer through, it was impossible for them to live down such a sin.... ...
Love marriages often collapse, that is a fact. Similarly, even the best-planned arranged marriages can also falter, turning into abysmal failures. Consequently, it is difficult not to conclude that Yu-i and Hsii Chih-mo were incompatible from the start. While the author portrays Hsii as passionate, she shows Yu-i as the contrary: a dutiful and practical Chinese wife, taught and trained under the Confucian precepts of obedience she chooses to forgo and live a life she could call her own. Similarly, being Chinese-American, Pang-Mei, the author and Yu-i’s grandniece, lives between two waters. She feels torn, just like her great-aunt, between the ideals she was raised on, and the modern western values. Under that perspective Bound Feet and Western Dress presents a juxtaposition between the figures of the two women where their apparent differences are in, in fact, likenesses that depict the lives of modern Chinese women, struggling to get rid of their, real and
Before her father’s death, Hong had lived a comfortable life, as her father held a position of power. However, “After her father died of bone cancer, life was hard for the Chens. [...] By now, both the mother and daughter had experienced the difficulty and humiliation caused by lacking power in their own hands. (Jin 560)” Along with the hardships after her father’s death came the realization of Hong’s purpose in life―to elevate her family’s place and prestige in society. Blinded by her pursuit for power, Hong would eventually find herself at a standpoint, suddenly having to choose a husband and marry for power. Facing a deadline for her choice, Hong picked her husband through lots, as she did have love for any of her suitors. As did Hong, Hulga would also fail to properly set out her life due to the restraint of
The first Memoir of 1795 was addressed to the heir of her natal family and took the form of a public appeal in her effort to reestablish her family’s moral legitimacy and honorable family tradition. Before we explore her memoir, it is important to note that she felt responsible for her family’s downfall – believing that her marriage into the royal house had led to directly their suffering and decline. Beyond the scholarly merit of her stories, they are important in the view Lady Hyegyong provides of the court life and the strict Confucian beliefs that stress filial piety, loyalty and virtue. To being with, the move from
Kublai Khan had a strong attraction to contemporary Chinese culture since early on in his life, and he studied the culture quite a bit. This became one of the more prominent and influential components of Kublai Khan’s life. When his el...
The family's personal encounters with the destructive nature of the traditional family have forced them to think in modern ways so they will not follow the same destructive path that they've seen so many before they get lost. In this new age struggle for happiness within the Kao family, a cultural barrier is constructed between the modern youth and the traditional adults, with Chueh-hsin teeter tottering on the edge, lost between them both. While the traditional family seems to be cracking and falling apart much like an iceberg in warm ocean waters, the bond between Chueh-min, Chueh-hui, Chin and their friends becomes as strong as the ocean itself. While traditional Confucianism plays a large role in the problems faced by the Kao family, it is the combination of both Confucianism and modernization that brings the family to its knees. Chueh-hsin is a huge factor in the novel for many reasons.
The early nineteenth century was the beginning of the Qing Dynasty’s downfall. During this century multiple issues, including economic pressures, corruption, domestic rebellions and foreign wars, challenged ...
Sit, Tony. "The Life of Empress Cixi” (from Issue 10 of the China in Focus Magazine). Society for Anglo-Chinese Understanding (SACU), 2001. .
Known mainly as a cultured emperor, Kangxi was also known as a scholar, administrator, and a conqueror (Wills 153). Kangxi was the first in the Golden Age of Emperors: Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong (Zhang 61). Aixin-Jueluo Xuanye, was the emperor’s full name; Kangxi lived between 1654-1722 and reigned between 1661-1722 (Zhang 61). Kangxi, which is his reign name, is named by many names: Jen Huang-ti, K’ang-hsi, Kangxi, Sheng-tsu, and Hsuan-yeh (EWB). Emperor Kangxi resided in the Qing dynasty and brought stability, tranquility, and prosperity to a foreign land. Xuanye did not live an easy life as he had trouble in government, strife in wars, and the hardest part of all, trying to find himself.
This story takes you deep into the life of a family. There are many different generations of women within the family that you begin to learn about through reading the story. The matriarch of the family was named Yu-fang, throughout her lifetime she experienced the struggle of communism in China. As a woman, it was a very trying time. In that era, young girls could be given away as concubines and they would be forced to have no control of their lives. The next generation of women in the reading is about De-hong. De-hong was the mother. She was an official within the communist party. She also married a man who became an official as well. The last generation of women that we read about is the life of Jung Chang. Throughout reading about the women,
The Warring States is the subject and title of Griffith’s third chapter, which gives an enlightening look at the life and times in China after the defeat of the rule of Chin at Ching Yang in 453. (p. 20) The country was divided into eight individual warring sects (with the exception of Yen...
The purpose of this paper is to tell the history of the Ming Dynasty’s impact on the Chinese Empire, and to explain why the Chinese Empire was in fact an empire.