Imperial China: The Decline of the Last Dynasty and the Origins of Modern China The 18th and 19th Centuries

The China Reader #1

by Franz Schurmann (Editor), Orville Schell (Editor)

A documentary history based on the contemporary accounts and historical examinations selected from the writings of political leaders, literary men, scholars, and journalists. Among those included are John K. Fairbank, Joseph R. Levenson, Francois Quesnay, C.K. Yang, Mary C. Wright, Benjamin Schwartz, Liang Ch'i-ch'ao, and Sir Robert Hart.

322 pages, Paperback

Published May 1, 1967

Reviews

[Marc Kirner · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book with historical perspectives on the Qing dynasty. I see many parallels with today. Reminds me of the George Santayana quote about "those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it. I'm sure others had that same thought down though time, but the statement is attributed to him. Well worth reading except for one section, pp.283-292 an essay by Ben Schwartz. That one was as dry as the West Texas desert.

[Philip]

OKAY, NEW CATEGORY HERE - these are the books that have been on my shelf for a while, but which I will probably never read because for whatever reason they are now OBE - "overtaken by events;" i.e., either irrelevant due to the passage of time and/or vicissitudes of history, or have simply been replaced by better books on the same topic.

And yes, I know I spend way too much time on Goodreads - but as addictions go it's probably better than internet porn. I think.