Jonathan D. Spence

Drawing on local Chinese histories, the memoirs of scholars, and other contemporary writings, Chinese historian Jonathan Spence reconstructs an extraordinary tale of rural tragedy in a remote corner of Shantung province in 17th-century China. Life in the county of T'an-ch'eng emerges as an endless cycle of floods, plagues, crop failures, banditry, and heavy taxation. Against this turbulent background a tenacious tax collector, an irascible farmer, and an unhappy wife act out a poignant drama at whose climax the wife, having run away from her husband, returns to him, only to die at his hands.

The leading textbook by the leading scholar.This text, the classic introduction to modern China for students and general readers, emerged from Spence’s highly successful introductory course at Yale, in which he traced the beginnings of modern China to internal developments beginning in the early 17th century. Strong on social and political history, as well as Chinese culture and its intersections with politics, this paperback is a longstanding leader in the survey course on modern China.

Whether read for its powerful account of the largest uprising in human history, or for its foreshadowing of the terrible convulsions suffered by twentieth-century China, or for the narrative power of a great historian at his best, God's Chinese Son must be read. At the center of this history of China's Taiping rebellion (1845-64) stands Hong Xiuquan, a failed student of Confucian doctrine who ascends to heaven in a dream and meets his heavenly family: God, Mary, and his older brother, Jesus. He returns to earth charged to eradicate the "demon-devils," the alien Manchu rulers of China. His success carries him and his followers to the heavenly capital at Nanjing, where they rule a large part of south China for more than a decade. Their decline and fall, wrought by internal division and the unrelenting military pressures of the Manchus and the Western powers, carry them to a hell on earth. Twenty million Chinese are left dead.

From humble origins in the provinces, Mao Zedong rose to absolute power, unifying with an iron fist a vast country torn apart by years of weak leadership, colonialism, and war. This sharply drawn and insightful account brings to life this modern-day emperor and the tumultuous era that he did so much to shape. Jonathan Spence captures Mao in all his paradoxical grandeur and sheds light on the radical transformation he unleashed that still reverberates in China today.

In 1577, the Jesuit Priest Matteo Ricci set out from Italy to bring Christian faith and Western thought to Ming dynasty China. To capture the complex emotional and religious drama of Ricci's extraordinary life, Jonathan Spence relates his subject's experiences with several images that Ricci himself created--four images derived from the events in the bible and others from a book on the art of memory that Ricci wrote in Chinese and circulated among members of the Ming dynasty elite. A rich and compelling narrative about a remarkable life, The Memory Palace Of Matteo Ricci is also a significant work of global history, juxtaposing the world of Counter-Reformation Europe with that of Ming China.

“A milestone in Western studies of China.” (John K. Fairbank) In this masterful, highly original approach to modern Chinese history, Jonathan D. Spence shows us the Chinese revolution through the eyes of its most articulate participants—the writers, historians, philosophers, and insurrectionists who shaped and were shaped by the turbulent events of the twentieth century. By skillfully combining literary materials with more conventional sources of political and social history, Spence provides an unparalleled look at China and her people and offers valuable insight into the continuing conflict between the implacable power of the state and the strivings of China's artists, writers, and thinkers.

This lively and elegant book by the acclaimed historian Jonathan D. Spence reconstructs an extraordinary episode in the early intercourse between Europe and China. It is the story of John Hu, a lowly but devout Chinese Catholic, who in 1722 accompanied a Jesuit missionary on a journey to France--a journey that ended with Hu's confinement in a lunatic asylum. At once a triumph of historical detective work and a gripping narrative, The Question of Hu deftly probes the collision of tw ocultures, with their different definitions of faith, madness, and moral obligation.

“A savory, fascinating story of absolute rule, one that not only reveals a great deal about China’s turbulent past but also suggests where some of the more durable reflexes of China’s current leaders have their roots. . . . A detective yarn and a picaresque tale.” (Richard Bernstein, The New York Times) Shortly before noon on October 28, 1728, General Yue Zhongqi, the most powerful military and civilian official in northwest China, was en route to his headquarters. Suddenly, out of the crowd, a stranger ran toward Yue and passed him an envelope—an envelope containing details of a treasonous plot to overthrow the Manchu government. This thrilling story of a conspiracy against the Qing dynasty in 1728 is a captivating tale of intrigue and a fascinating exploration of what it means to rule and be ruled. Once again, Jonathan Spence has created a vivid portrait of the rich culture that surrounds a most dramatic moment in Chinese history.

Traces the life and legacy of esteemed Ming historian and essayist Zhang Dai, describing the cultural renaissance and Buddhist reform of his early years, the impact of the Manchu invasion of 1644 on his dynasty, and his four-decade career as a writer.

"Like everything else written by Jonathan Spence, The Chan's Great Continent is an absolute must-read for anyone interested in China. Spence is one of the greatest Sinologists of our time, and his work is both authoritative and highly readable." ― Los Angeles Times Book Review China has transfixed the West since the earliest contacts between these civilizations. With his characteristic elegance and insight, Jonathan Spence explores how the West has understood China over seven centuries. Ranging from Marco Polo's own depiction of China and the mighty Khan, Kublai, in the 1270s to the China sightings of three twentieth-century writers of acknowledged genius-Kafka, Borges, and Calvino-Spence conveys Western thought on China through a remarkable array of expression. Peopling Spence's account are Iberian adventurers, Enlightenment thinkers, spinners of the dreamy cult of Chinoiserie, and American observers such as Bret Harte, Mark Twain, Ezra Pound, and Eugene O'Neill. Taken together, these China sightings tell us as much about the self-image of the West as about China. "Wonderful. . . . Spence brilliantly demonstrates [how] generation after generation of Westerners [have] asked themselves, 'What is it . . . that held this astonishing, diverse, and immensely populous land together?' "-- New York Times Book Review

From “the best known and most talented historian of China writing in English today” (Los Angeles Times), an examination of a diverse collection of Western foreigners who attempted “to change China” "To change China" was the goal of foreign missionaries, soldiers, doctors, teachers, engineers, and revolutionaries for more than three hundred years. But the Chinese, while eagerly accepting Western technical advice, clung steadfastly to their own religious and cultural traditions. As a new era of relations between China and the United States begins, the tales in this volume will serve as cautionary histories for businessmen, diplomats, students, or any other foreigners who foolishly believe that they can transform this vast, enigmatic country.

THE CHINESE CENTURY is a magnificent and moving photographic chronicle of the past tumultuous century of china's history. It brings together nearly 300 stunning photographs, most of them never before published outside China, and an authoritative and accessible text by Jonathan Spence and Annping Chin. Here are the last rulers of the waning empire and the revolutionaries who were to overthrow them; the warlords and capitalists who exploited the new order; the chaos of civil war and the brutality of the Japanese invasion and occupation; the Long March and the great famine; the triumph of the Red Army and the terrible cruelty and suffering of the Cultural Revolution; the depredations and downfalls of the Gang of Four; and the tragedy of Tiananmen Square. Alongside these often shocking scenes are glorious landscapes and teeming cities, intimate portraits of Chinese men and women, townspeople and peasants, artists, writers, film stars and the country's leaders, as they have rarely been seen in the West. THE CHINESE CENTURY's spectacular array of photographs bring to life, as never before, the hidden face of China.

“If one has the art, then a piece of celery or salted cabbage can be made into a marvelous delicacy; whereas if one has not the art, not all the greatest delicacies and rarities of land, sea, or sky are of any avail.” ―a Beijing cook , nineteenth century from Chinese Roundabout The spirit of adventure is at the heart of Jonathan Spence's widely acclaimed scholarship on the modern history of China. This vitality, fleshed out with deep research and attired in elegant style, has drawn countless readers to subjects otherwise approachable only by experts. Through eight books, from the story of the early eighteenth century Manchu bondservant Ts'ao Yin to his magisterial history, The Search for Modern China , Spence has made the excitement of intellectual discovery palpable for us all. In the course of his fruitful career Spence has written many shorter pieces as well, and the best of these are collected for the first time in Chinese Roundabout . Here the reader will meet Arcadio Huang, the Chinese linguist and Christian convert who moves from south China to Enlightenment Paris, marries a French woman, and in conversations with Montesquieu becomes the likely source for the Persian Letters. The poignant story of Huang's hard-won success and final defeat by poverty and disease illustrates the perils of crossing cultures. Spence's delight in intellectual risk animates his Shakespearean approach to the life of the great Qing emperor in "The Seven Ages of K'ang-hsi." Spence's great learning informs an authoritative essay on China's tragic experience with opium. Following the social process of addiction from the cultivation of poppies and the processing of the drug through its introduction by the British into China, its widespread distribution and consumption by Chinese, and the public struggle to suppress opium use, Spence explores issues of historical and contemporary interest. In an equally substantial piece he focuses on the cultural dimensions of food in Qing China, illuminating the marginal diet of a peasantry constantly threatened by famine as well as the grand banquets of the literati and the imperial household. In the work of 25 years, Spence has established himself as a brilliant interpreter of modern Chinese history. His books―among them the recent national bestseller The Search for Modern China ―exhibit uncommon imagination, unobtrusive learning, verve, and elegance. These same qualities animate the essays gathered here.

. 1988 2nd print, bright clean copy, no markings, no dustjacket, Professional booksellers since 1981

Book by Spence

New Lower Price Between 1850 and today, China has undergone an unprecedented series of shocks and transformations. This dramatic period--which has seen urban industrialization, conquest by foreign powers, civil wars, changing governments and, more recently, a gradual opening to the international community--has also marked an explosion of artistic experimentation and innovation. Spanning 150 spectacular years of artistic production, "A Century in Crisis" offers the first systematic exploration of modern and contemporary Chinese art. Essays by leading scholars show the ways in which Chinese artists have grappled with modernity, tradition, self-definition and the adoption and rejection of Western convention. Sumptuous color plates showcase a dazzling array of achievements--including Shanghai School paintings, modern calligraphy, commercial art, 1920s and 1930s woodblock prints, modern guohua (traditional ink and color paintings), socialist realist paintings and other contemporary works.

Based on 30 years of research, Spence dispels the myths and mysteries of China, covering four centuries of Chinese history.

extremely rare,very good condition

《追尋現代中國》、《雍正王朝之大義覺迷》的譯者溫洽溢曾觀察到史景遷著作的一項特徵：「異質文化之間的互動融匯與內在張力一直以來就是史景遷著述的主題，從康熙與曹寅、來華傳教的利瑪竇、遊歷歐洲的胡若望、乃至馬可孛羅、洪秀全，學貫中西的史氏，每能透過奇絕的敘事佈局和斐然文采，讓筆下的歷史人物躍然紙上，耕耘出滿漢、東西文化交錯的吉光片羽。」 史景遷善於以人物的慾望、動機為座標，重新編碼歷史素材，史景遷寫婦人王氏之死、利瑪竇、胡若望，都是在大時代中的一小方天地中，塑造出似幻似真的情境；而史景遷書寫歷史的魅力就在於他掌握到讀者面對歷史時的微妙心境：希望歷史不是那麼冰冷遙遠，而是可供讀者投射情感、釋放想像的私人場域。這些人或為尋常的平民百姓，或是限於海角的外國傳教士，對歷史即使有所影響，也顯得迂迴而間接，但是卻有助於醞釀讀者的私密感。 《太平天國》卻不同於以次要歷史人物為題的著作，而較近於《雍正王朝之大義覺迷》。但是《雍正》的趣味在於曾靜一案在宮廷鬥爭的脈絡下的令人嘖嘖稱奇的發展，以及君臣之間的義理論辯，而《太平天國》則在於一種類似《魔戒》的磅礡史詩氣魄，畢竟洪秀全在1851年到1863年間建立的太平天國，造成兩千五百萬人喪生，經濟損失不計其數。它擾亂大清國經濟動脈的江南，斲傷大清元氣，在清朝與外國接觸最廣泛的地區觸動了滿漢族群問題、華洋民族意識，更為後來的中共政權，提供了「農民起義」的先例。這是「太平天國」這麼一件影響東亞歷史至鉅的事件卻為本地讀者忽略的原因之一。在國民黨主政台灣時期，是不可能重視中共大加宣揚的一段歷史的；而在本土化成為政治正確的今天，這段歷史更是乏台灣人問津，即使洪秀全本人也是個客家人。 這種陌生感反而成為另一種魅力的來源。史景遷本來以英文寫作時，便是以「外國人」為讀者，如今譯成中文，在描寫充滿殺戮、個人無力回天的史詩場景，卻又讓人聯想起沈從文筆下的湖南。在時代的巨輪下，人無分貴賤，都只能稟著分派到自己身上的那份命運，掙扎著活下去，在此時，便散發出一種美麗與殘酷並陳的奇特美感。 而使他敘事的主軸擺脫業師Mary Wright的「漢化」說。也許是深諳歷史的詭譎多變，史景遷不像有著同樣寫作風格的黃仁宇，竟提出宏觀論述和帶有「東方主義」（orientalism）鑿痕的命題，而落入西方理論的糾葛，削足履鞋。但弔詭的是，也因為他那迷人的蒙太奇寫作手法，打破了線性時間和僵固空間的制約，因而時常游移於歷史與小說之間，成為西方漢學界有關史學方法論爭辯時的焦點。

Encapsulating the themes of his 1996 book, God's Chinese Son , Jonathan Spence, in this Edmondson Historical Lecture, interprets the social and political milieu of mid-nineteenth-century China that gave rise to the apocalyptic Taiping Rebellion. Here, Spence traces the events surrounding the life of Hong Xiuquan, the self-styled heavenly king who had learned through his encounter with Christian religious texts that he was not only a religious leader, but also "the younger brother of Jesus." Hong's rise to power in southern China eventually led to his military seizure of one of China's largest cities, Nanjing, where he established his heavenly capital on earth for eleven years. Included in this study is the author's analysis of Hong's intellectual development. Spence gives special attention to Hong's introduction to Christian texts and his eventual use of Christian scripture to interpret his role as "God's Chinese Son." Spence poignantly articulates how Hong interpreted Scripture not only to maintain his spiritual and political leadership over his followers but also to anticipate the apocalyptic conclusion to his earthly kingdom.

《追尋現代中國》、《雍正王朝之大義覺迷》的譯者溫洽溢曾觀察到史景遷著作的一項特徵：「異質文化之間的互動融匯與內在張力一直以來就是史景遷著述的主題，從康熙與曹寅、來華傳教的利瑪竇、遊歷歐洲的胡若望、乃至馬可孛羅、洪秀全，學貫中西的史氏，每能透過奇絕的敘事佈局和斐然文采，讓筆下的歷史人物躍然紙上，耕耘出滿漢、東西文化交錯的吉光片羽。」 史景遷善於以人物的慾望、動機為座標，重新編碼歷史素材，史景遷寫婦人王氏之死、利瑪竇、胡若望，都是在大時代中的一小方天地中，塑造出似幻似真的情境；而史景遷書寫歷史的魅力就在於他掌握到讀者面對歷史時的微妙心境：希望歷史不是那麼冰冷遙遠，而是可供讀者投射情感、釋放想像的私人場域。這些人或為尋常的平民百姓，或是限於海角的外國傳教士，對歷史即使有所影響，也顯得迂迴而間接，但是卻有助於醞釀讀者的私密感。 《太平天國》卻不同於以次要歷史人物為題的著作，而較近於《雍正王朝之大義覺迷》。但是《雍正》的趣味在於曾靜一案在宮廷鬥爭的脈絡下的令人嘖嘖稱奇的發展，以及君臣之間的義理論辯，而《太平天國》則在於一種類似《魔戒》的磅礡史詩氣魄，畢竟洪秀全在1851年到1863年間建立的太平天國，造成兩千五百萬人喪生，經濟損失不計其數。它擾亂大清國經濟動脈的江南，斲傷大清元氣，在清朝與外國接觸最廣泛的地區觸動了滿漢族群問題、華洋民族意識，更為後來的中共政權，提供了「農民起義」的先例。這是「太平天國」這麼一件影響東亞歷史至鉅的事件卻為本地讀者忽略的原因之一。在國民黨主政台灣時期，是不可能重視中共大加宣揚的一段歷史的；而在本土化成為政治正確的今天，這段歷史更是乏台灣人問津，即使洪秀全本人也是個客家人。 這種陌生感反而成為另一種魅力的來源。史景遷本來以英文寫作時，便是以「外國人」為讀者，如今譯成中文，在描寫充滿殺戮、個人無力回天的史詩場景，卻又讓人聯想起沈從文筆下的湖南。在時代的巨輪下，人無分貴賤，都只能稟著分派到自己身上的那份命運，掙扎著活下去，在此時，便散發出一種美麗與殘酷並陳的奇特美感。 而使他敘事的主軸擺脫業師Mary Wright的「漢化」說。也許是深諳歷史的詭譎多變，史景遷不像有著同樣寫作風格的黃仁宇，竟提出宏觀論述和帶有「東方主義」（orientalism）鑿痕的命題，而落入西方理論的糾葛，削足履鞋。但弔詭的是，也因為他那迷人的蒙太奇寫作手法，打破了線性時間和僵固空間的制約，因而時常游移於歷史與小說之間，成為西方漢學界有關史學方法論爭辯時的焦點。

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Depuis sept siècles, la Chine exerce une étonnante fascination sur l'Occident. Dès les premiers contacts, elle est apparue comme un objet de désir plutôt que de connaissance et, très vite, elle est devenue une construction imaginaire et un enjeu des débats internes de l'Occident. C'est l'histoire de la Chine comme l'ont comprise et imaginée les Occidentaux que retrace ici le grand sinologue américain Jonathan D. Spence. Pour rendre compte de cette fascination, il fait appel aux récits des voyageurs, aux systèmes des philosophes, aux rapports des diplomates, aux témoignages des missionnaires et, surtout, aux œuvres des grands écrivains qui, de Mendes Pinto à Italo Calvino, en passant par Voltaire, Segalen et Brecht, ont voulu communiquer leur vision de la Chine. Grossiers ou subtils, généreux ou empreints de préjugés, sobres ou avides d'exotisme, ces documents nous en apprennent finalement autant sur l'Occident que sur la Chine.Jonathan D. Spence est professeur d'histoire à Yale. Ses nombreux livres sur la Chine font autorité. On peut citer, parmi ceux traduits en français, Palais de mémoire de Matteo Ricci et La mort de la femme Wang. Traduit de l'anglais par Bernard Olivier.