Jonathan Spence's The Death Of Woman Wang

Jonathan Spence’s The Death of Woman Wang looks at rural life in the small county of T’ang-ch’eng during late 17th century China. In the novel, Spence looks at the lives of peasants and rural farmers, those often overlooked in studying this period of China. Through four crises that had occurred in the small county, the novel displays the bleak and unfortunate lives of those living in T’ang-ch’eng and how the major changes taking place in China would leave the county in disarray, low morale and for women such as Woman Wang an ill-fated demise. Using three sources, two based on recounting the crises in the county (Local History of T’ang-ch’eng, a personal handbook by Huang Liu-hung) and one imaging more fable like stories based on certain incidents that had occurred (P’u Sung-ling’s written works), Spence creates a picture of how life was like for the small county.

Using the three sources mentioned before, he creates the image of harsh living leading to numerous rebellions, bandits, floods, and considerably low spirits among the people. T’ang-ch’eng had no particular major influence over the history of China with no particular prominent figures helming from that county but Spence displays how the occurrences and norms of China during the late 17th century would have catastrophic consequences for even the smallest