The Troubled Empire: China in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties (History of Imperial China)

Timothy Brook, editor of the Imperial China series, has himself authored this 5th volume of a six volume set. He is a Ming specialist, so he is eminently qualified to write this volume. He takes a creative and unorthodox approach to the subject, where he avoids the usual "here are the Yuan and Ming Dynasties "in this order" approach." Instead he deftly establishes a new conceptual framework, where for example, the weather and not just geo-politics is viewed as the major determinant shaping Yuan-Ming Chinese History. He delights in revealing how (then) contemporary voices, as revealed through Chinese primary sources, help us to better understand the epic changes at work in 13th-17th century China. In a nutshell, his unconventional, but always interesting and informative, approach serves both the generalist and the advanced student, by offering a much-needed, but also much-delayed, new perspectiveon Yuan-Ming History. Traditionally, the Yuan has been generally viewed alone by itself as a major dynasty, or alternately in close association with the Song (Sung) Dynasty 960-1279 CE. Brook, however, sees more logic and practicality in linking the Yuan and Ming together. This flies in the face of convention, where the Ming and Qing (Ch'ing) dynasties are traditionally viewed as a matched pair, under the well-established rubric of "Late Imperial China" in much the same way we see the Qin (Ch'in) and Han and the Sui and Tang as matched pairs, relative to the labels of "First" and "Second" empires respectfully. Beyond being unconventional in an interesting and thought provoking way, the value of such an approach is that it does two distinctly different tasks all at the same time.First, it informs us about the nuts and bolts of the narrative (essential for the novice and general reader); and it also infuses the discussion with helpful interpretations and explanations about the why and how, as we are informed about the when, who, and where. In this way we are educated about the critical role of heretofore unknown elements that have acted as driving forces for change in the unfolding of Yuan and Ming narratives. This book does not debunk for the sake of debunking, which is to say that while there is revisionist thinking, there is also much that confirms or reaffirms what we already know about this period, which may anyway sound new to many readers. Anyone looking for a basic nuts-bolts narrative summary of these dynasties may be disappointed, because of Brook's novel approach. If this is the case, I refer anyone interested in a more structured and conventional "here it is" approach to give a look at Dardess' work The Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), A Concise History of a Resilient Empire. There is, unfortunately, no equivalent for the Yuan Dynasty. The closest thing in this case would be John D Langlois' work, China Under Mongol Rule (originally issued as a collection of essays in 1981, and reissued again in 2014).

This book is the fifth in Harvard's recent series on imperial China. The project spans two thousand years in six volumes, cleverly pairing pivotal dynasties (such as Qin and Yuan) with the classic eras that followed (such as Han and Ming). A device like this is needed to organize a subject so vast. At over three hundred pages each, it totals more than two thousand pages.It's a lot of reading but, as it turns out, not nearly enough to thoroughly cover the saga. It is interesting to compare this extended approach to single volume histories such as Hucker's or Gernet's that make the attempt within a quarter of the text. The greater space allows a fuller range of civic and private life to be shown, which is an important advantage.This installment revisits the Yuan dynasty of Kublai Khan and the succeeding Ming dynasty of 1368-1644. It is written by Timothy Brook, editor of the series, and is a formidable contender for the best book in the collection. It begins with the appearance of dragons, harbingers of cataclysmic change, drawn from imperial chronicles that read like medieval newspaper clippings.The collapse of the dynasties are attributed by Brook to Little Ice Age climatic disturbances, which correspond with the onset and low point of the cold temperatures. Dragons are seen as metaphors for extreme weather, the displeasure of Heaven and portend disasters for men. Periods of drought and episodes of flooding accompany meteorological anomalies.Famine followed floods, dams and dykes were destroyed, plagues and pestilence prevailed. The earth shook, toppling cities and homes, diverting rivers and killing millions. Ash and smoke from Japan's volcanoes blotted out the sun and sky. At each instance of disaster sightings of dragons were observed, and concerns were raised about dynastic survival.As with other volumes in this series there is much more territory traversed. Brook covers Marco Polo and Matteo Ricci, conquests of the Jin and Song, the Great Wall and Grand Canal, the Yellow and Yangtze river regions, civil service examinations and administrative districts, census and migration. Economy and ecology, families and religion are not left out.The dominant mode of this series is thematic and topical, instead of strictly chronological. If you seek a straightforward narrative account of reigns and campaigns you will need to look elsewhere. This book accomplishes what is occasionally attempted but seldom achieved, a synthesis of academic rigor and literary excellence. A magical key to the past.

I am very split on my review of this book.On one hand, as with all other books in this series, there is minimal attention paid towards the basics, such as who the emperors were and anything about them. There is no attention paid towards explaining the Ming and the Mongol (Yuan) on a timeline. I really had a hard time, after reading this book, at forming much memory about what I had read. The other books were scattershot like this but at least had a rougher timeline.This was the 5 th out of the 6 books in this series that I had read. Thankfully, I already had some outline of the empires, but I would have been totally lost without this prior knowledge. Who the Mongols were and how they gained and lost their empire was not covered. The loss of the Ming empire to the Manchus was also scantily covered.One the other hand, the author writes well, and each chapter, built around a theme that pervaded the entire empire, was interesting to read. The first chapter on “dragons” was interesting and unexpected, and the chapter on the constant barrage of natural disasters to strike the Ming was interesting. I enjoyed reading each chapter but have not really retained much, even though I was interested in the content.By the way, I really liked the book on the grandeur of the Qing empire and read it twice. The book on the Tang and how cosmopolitan they were was great, and even the book on the book on the Qin and Han and how they were a society of laws was great. Even the Book on the Song was good and gave me a better feel of the break up of the empire and the invasions and what the societies were like.

This is the fifth volume of the six volume 'History of Imperial China', written by the general editor of the series, Timothy Brooks. The volumes covers the apparently totally different Yuan (1260-1368) and Ming (1368-144) dynasties, showing, however, very interesting parallels. Brooks does not follow the example of the previous four books by starting with a summary of the political history of the period in question, but starts with dragon spotting during the two dynasties, which stands for unusual wheather phenomena symbolizing trouble for the emperor. Principally, Brooks identifies sudden climate and wheather changes (during the period the little ice age ocurred, resulting in prolonged dry periods) as well as other natural catastrophes, which he names 'sloughs', as one of the major reasons for the fall and rise of the two dynasties.Apart from this, on the 266 pages of the book (plus succession tables , notes and a 20 p. bibliography) major developments during the covered period in areas like gender and family, economy and ecology, commerce and international trade, belief systems, and arts and crafts are shown, partly from very interesting perspectives (such as from the view of a contemporary art collector).Overall, the book is written very well, introduces a lot of new and interesting perspectives, and is highly recommendable for everybody interested in the history of China.

Fascinating easy to read book on the history of the Yuan and Ming dynasties.

Buena descripción de la China de ese período. Desarrollado por temas y no por historia cronológica.

Just what my son needed for his A level work, glad there was a good description on Amazon. Well referenced book.

Perfect book, I love it so much!