Status Updates From Imperial China, 900–1800

Finally beginning on the Qing. This last chapter greatly expanded my understanding of 雪妃娘娘和包鲁嘎汗 I've been reading, but which unfortunately isn't on Goodreads, dealing with the rise of the Manchu under Nurhaci. Might need to find a book specifically on that topic now, it is incredibly interesting.

i read some pages from this each night before bed and may take notes since it will be a long time before i finish this

right now Abaoji is developing a unique dual political system balancing nomadic Khitan people and Chinese bureaucracy after the collapse of the Tang dynasty

One of the great frustrations with this book is his tendency to be inconsistent in Romanization. Sometimes he writes of Jiangsi and Sinkiang, but most other names are given in Pinyin. 11 uses of Jiangsi and 30ish of Jiangxi. 3 of Sinkiang, dozens of Xinjiang. I understand names can become standardized in transliteration even when systems change, but this is just lazy.

“The lives of ordinary people in their localities were adversely affected by the steady loss of morale in the elite sector, and therefore in the conduct of local government. The spreading cynicism allowed malpractice to replace altruistic dedication, and to be realistically if not ideally accepted as the norm. The sense of social responsibility in officialdom, and among the elite who dominated local society, became

“[Modern] China has accepted this legacy of geographically extended Qing rule as if it inhered in the geopolitical facts of Chinese history. It does not. The Inner Asian empire was grafted onto the Chinese cultural zone in the process of meeting Manchu power needs and interests. Securing and retaining the Qing Empire is thus a Manchu achievement that added a vast realm to the historic China only because

“A careful reading of history makes it clear that the circumstances of the Ming collapse…were not brought about by any general disintegration of government and society. Far from it. Those fatal circumstances were brought about carelessly, by an administration that simply could no longer manage its resources, utilize its strengths, and maintain its focus.