O império imóvel, ou O choque dos mundos

by Alain Peyrefitte

Portugese (translation)
Original French

Genres: History, China

586 pages, Unknown Binding

First published May 23, 1989

About the author

He was a confidant of Charles De Gaulle and had a long career in public service, serving as a diplomat in Germany and Poland.

He was Minister of Information from 1962 to 1966, establishing the rules of presidential debates between the two electoral rounds.

He served as Minister of Justice from 1977 to 1981, and was involved in the affair surrounding the mysterious death of Robert Boulin in 1979.

He became a member of the Académie française in 1977.

He wrote The Immobile Empire, and Quand la Chine s'éveillera... le monde tremblera.

Outside France he is probably best known for his book Le Mal Français (translated as The Trouble with France), which addresses the question of whether there is something unique to the French character that has caused some of the country's peculiar recurring problems. The book places his own observations and experiences as a journalist and government minister inside a panoramic view of French and European history from the medieval to the modern era.

Upon his death in 1999 he was honored by burial in Les Invalides which also houses the tomb of Napoleon and other revered national leaders.

Reviews

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant. Notwithstanding that the book is over a quarter of century old, it's one of the best histories I've ever read. The points of intersection that Peyrefitte chooses between the British Empire and the Qing are momentous and the depth of research is mind-boggling and telling. And on top of this Peyrefitte brings a non-anglo eye to the behaviour of the British, and how they may have seemed to the Chinese; I doubt this book would have been as insightful if written by someone from the Commonwealth.
Anyone interested in East-meets-West, understanding modern Chinese perceptions, the dynamics and thought processes of empire (ascendant and descendant), the rigidities of culture, black swans, and how to do good multilingual historical research should read this book. This is how it's done.

[Victor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alain Peyrefitte's Immobile Empire is more than just a book about Chinese history. Through his French perspective, he not only see the cultural difference between China and the Anglo-Saxon, the East and the West, but also extend rich analysis of mentality of Continental Europeans, Far East, and the global role of Europe at his time. I highly recommend this book to anyone that like Chinese history, French writers, and so-called liberal art people that think French intellectuals only offer the world de Beauvoir, Foucault, and Derrida.

[Paul Heetebrij · Rating 4 out of 5]

De missie is hopeloos mislukt. De Chinese keizer beschouwde China als middelpunt van de wereld en iedere andere vorst als ondergeschikt. Engeland hoopte handel en wetenschap te brengen. China had niets nodig en een handelaar werd in China als parasiet veracht, omdat deze niets bijdroeg aan de welvaart.
Aan de hand van de reisdagboeken van de leden van de Engelse missie en aanvullende commentaren krijg je een idee van het Chinese keizerrijk, zoals dat tot ongeveer begin 19e eeuw heeft gefunctioneerd. De ingevoegde tekeningen van schilder William Alexander geven een goed beeld.

Het een-na-laatste hoofdstuk vertelt voor de niet-Chinologen beknopt hoe het China is vergaan in de 19e eeuw. De overige mislukte missies met ook een intermezzo op St. Helena waar de verbannen Napoleon werd bezocht. (Napoleon over Engeland: "Land van kruideniers") De opiumverkoop, de opium-oorlog, de gestopte vernieuwingsinitiatieven, de Bokseropstand.

[六经注我 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This work of history exposes an unhelpful mentality to conceive a pluralistic world. In the Qing China as the envoys saw (as in much of imperial China’s history), there was only one high civilization and it is theirs, and it’s universal in a sense that everyone can learn this high civilization and become part of their order, become an evidence of the civilization’s universality and superiority albeit still and always a newcomer. In my opinion it is crucial for contemporary cosmopolitans to grasp other conceptions of progress, other moral compasses, other ways to perceive the world, so that they can try to mitigate differences in their perceptions of righteousness and understand their struggles and “enemies”, instead of placing all under heaven into an hierarchy or progressiveness.

Also the author places too much importance to his own sensational analogies between Qianlong’s Qing and the PRC

[raul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid history of the ossified state of the Chinese court in the late 18th century and the British attempts to break into China's markets... sets up the disastrous 19th and 20th century history of the country...