Rating: Summary: A Whodunit from 18th Century China Review: "Treason by the Book", by Yale historian Jonathan D Spence, is my early candidate for the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for History. It is a slim jewel of a book about the investigation and prosecution for treason of a rustic scholar by the third emperor of the Manchu dynasty. Spence's book is so many-faceted that it is hard to summarize -- reflecting backward to the very origins of Chinese culture and forward into our own time. It sheds light on the nature of Chinese government and society in the early 18th century, relates a police-procedural story worthy of Ed MacBain, and tells the story of a book coauthored by an emperor and a traitor. "Treason by the Book is essentially a book about the power of words -- those written down and preserved and those spread by gossip and rumor that harden into myth.The story begins in 1728 when the Governor General of a remote province is handed a letter by a stranger which contains a denunication of the Manchu emperor, Yongzheng. The writer, calling himself "Summer Calm", urges General Yue to "rise in revolt" and stop serving a "bandit ruler". "The barbarians(Manchurians) are different species from us (Chinese)...[and] should be driven out". The letter goes on to accuse the emperor of plotting against his parents, murdering several of his brothers, piling up material wealth, and living a debauched life. It praises a scholar, identified as "Master of the Eastern Sea" who has upheld the ideals of earlier times. General Yue, though Chinese, is a loyal official of the "bandit ruler". He arrests the messenger, tortures and interrogates him to find out more about the conspiracy hinted at in the letter. His report to the emperor sets off an imperial investigation involving hundreds of officials in many provinces. Through detective work worthy of a modern police state, they net everyone connected to the messenger and, no matter how remotely, to "Summer Calm", a rural teacher whose real name in Zeng Jing. The roundup also includes the family, friends and former students of a poet-scholar name Lu Liuliang, the "Master of the Eastern Ocean" who has been dead for forty years. Not even dead poets can escape the long arm of a Chinese emperor. One is awed by the efficiency of the Manchu emperor's administrative control over his vast country -- exercised through his Confucian-trained bureaucracy and a communication system unmatched in the west until the advent of the railroad. At about the same time Louis XIV's Intendants were just beginning to challenge the hereditary nobles for administrative control of the French provinces and the Hanoverians in Britain, a new alien dynasty like the Manchus, had no professional administrators. The British civil service, that would rule an empire greater than Yongzheng's, was a century in the future. Under interrogation, Zeng Jing confessed that the "conspiracy" was mostly in his head, germinated by his reading of Lu Liuliang and nutured by gossip about the emperor he heard from a mysterious scholar named Wang Shu who had visited his schoolhouse six years earlier. After Zeng had been tried and convicted, the emperor decided that clearing his own reputation was a more important matter than executing a misguided slanderer. Zeng, he announced, was just a dupe of literary troublemakers like Lu Liuliang. To set record straight, the emperor published a 500 page book titled "Awakening from Delusion" Containing his own critque of the Zeng letter, an attack on the writings of Lu, and -- strangest of all -- a series of written exchanges between himself and Zeng Jing regarding the allegations of the letter. Zeng Jing confessed his errors of "understanding" abjectly, but in the process argued for land reform, more equitable distribution of wealth, and local "selection" of officals. The emperor made an enlightened argument for tolerance in a multi-ethnic nation. Both based their reasoning on the writings of Confucius and earlier scholars. Hundreds of thousands of copies of "Awakening" were printed and distributed throughout the empire together with imperial orders that it was to be read at bi-monthly public gatherings. Neither of the principals lived to see the ironic conclusion of the decade-long affair. Nor could they have imagined that three hundred years later a "barbarian" scholar would use their story as a mirror in which his readers can study the reflection of their own times.
Rating: Summary: A Chinese puzzle of treason Review: Faced with treason, most absolute monarchs strike it down with a heavy blade. But though the Manchu Emperor Yongzheng was not above doing so, in one extraordinary case in 1728 he did not. How and why this potentate struck back with scholarship instead of a sword forms the heart of Jonathan Spence's latest narrative reconstruction of incidents from Chinese history. This incident involves a strangely incompetent would-be rebel named Zeng Jing, an obscure schoolteacher. He thinks he can overthrow Yongzheng through a mass uprising if a certain general will just give the word. After a manifesto delivered to this general brings the plot to light, careful investigation leads to the arrest of Zeng Jing and a handful of "conspirators," a deluded assortment of isolated people who have no weapons, no other followers, and no plan. End of story? Not in Yongzheng's mind. He wants to know all about the rumors and writings that fed this manifesto. The rumors claim that whole provinces suffer under drought and flood as the emperor sits idle, that his economic policies fail, that his rule is unjust, his character dissolute. The writings, shockingly, turn out to be secret journals of a late respected Chinese scholar. As the intellectual basis of Zeng Jing's treason, the journals play the race card: Many Chinese scorn the rule of the "barbarian" Manchus. In total control but still unsatisfied, Yongzheng wishes to refute every seditious, malicious accusation against him. For this he marshals his considerable command of facts and philosophy. As the captured traitor is made to read the emperor's point-by-point annotation of the false manifesto, he concedes his errors and Yongzheng's wise justice. Rebel and regent then relish a debate by letter on the nature of good government. The resulting book, consisting of Zeng Jing's misunderstandings and Yongzheng's corrections, is distributed to every scholar in China. Zeng Jing's life is spared. What? Pardon and publicize treason? Bad judgment, many officials grumble. But, Spence writes, "The idea of disclosure rather than concealment has come to fascinate Yongzheng: how much better to appear to reveal all, and then demolish the parts of the story one does not like, than to pretend nothing has happened and let the rumors build." Spence's book presents twin feats of investigation. First, by the Chinese bureaucracy: Its agents could trace not only obscure people and rumors with little to go on, but also could "round up an entire literary tradition" to solve a political problem. (Sounds like "re-education" in Chinese communism.) Tracking the source of the rumors Zeng Jing heard to a mysterious stranger, they even dig up a corpse for proof. Second is Spence's own scholarship. At times his book seems too detailed, but in going back through it I was hard-pressed to say what I would have left out. The Yale scholar's gift for lifting fascinating stories from great masses of documents is dazzling.
Rating: Summary: Intriquing history Review: It's hard to pinpoint exactly why this book is so arresting. Maybe it's because Mr. Spence takes the historical records from the period of the third Qing emperor of China and crafts lucid characters from them, whom we can relate to in their struggles to deal with unexpected and unwelcome situations -- we can relate to them as persons. Maybe it's the cycle of mystery and revelation that pervades the book, as the author follows only a few steps behind the imperial investigators who track down the author of a treasonous letter or the mysterious, so-called "Wang Shu", who ws the ultimate source of much of the letter's content. Maybe it's the inherent foreigness of the world the book describes -- far different from ours, with its First Amendment freedoms; in the world Spence describes, spreading critical rumors about the government can lead to any number of punishments, including being sliced to death. Maybe it's the sense of seeing an emporor do what none had done before him: enter into dialogue with a traitor and publish a book based on that correspondence. Maybe it's the sense of seeing how government worked in China almost three centuries ago -- I think you'll be surprised. Whatever the reason, this book is a good read.
Rating: Summary: Oustanding Review: Jonathan Spence provides another brilliant piece of scholarship on Chinese history. An unquestioned authority on the subject, Spence's use of archival evidence allows him to weave an interesting and intricate web of intrigue. What may be most important about this book, as some reviewers have mentioned, is the way it illuminates the attitude of the Manchu dynasty Emperors and the historical "Chinese" way of handling governmental publicity. Spence's book is a scholarly and well-written example of larger trends in the struggle for Chinese governmental legitimacy that has relevance for today. I highly recommend this book not only for its insight into Chinese government and society but also for its entertainment value. Well worth the buy!
Rating: Summary: Political thriller,philosophy & police procedural all in one Review: On the night of October 28,1728 the Governor General ,Yue Zhongqi, of China's Shaanxi and Sichuan province is handed a letter by a messenger that reveals a plot against Yongzheng, 3rd Manchu Emperor of China. TREASON BY THE BOOK by noted Chinese scholar Jonathan Spence examines a treason plot that is inspired by the writings of a dead scholar and the reactions of the Chinese government to the alleged plot. The book is a blend of political thriller, philosophy and police procedural. Spence clearly lays out the intricate workings of the government bureaucracy and law enforcement system whose skill would make a modern computerized police force green with envy. A suspect or witness only briefly glimpsed years before is easily found due to the intricate and labyrinth record keeping methods of the government on all levels. Equally fascinating is the Emperor's method of dealing with the plot. To Westerners it may appear strange but Spence has firmly laid out the cultural background that makes it understandable.The great detail that is found in the book is the result of that vast government bureaucrcy which kept voluminous records and correspondences covering every detail from great to appearingly trivial. Spence deftly brings clarity to all these sources and has given the reader the best kind of history- one that reads like a good story.
Rating: Summary: Early 18th Century Manchu Dynasty Investigative Reporting Review: Poor Emperor Yongzhang, the third emperor of the Manchu dynasty, attempting to but seemingly unable to crush unfavorable rumors. Jonathan Spence reconstructs a very short-lived attempted rebellion and its suppression or more precisely spreading of invidious rumors and their suppression. The rebellion was so short-lived that it actually was only manifest in a letter delivered from a near-do-well scholar, Zhange Xi, to the regional commander-and-chief of Sichuan province, General Yue Zangqi. The General immediately interrogates Zhang and relays the interrogation notes to the Emperor. Dr. Spence describes the bureaucracy in the authoritarian, imperial China of the 1720s and 1730s as if he is describing a modern highly efficient totalitarian regime. He interprets the mindsets of the conspirators, the interrogators, and the bureaucrats using language and imagery that grabs and holds the reader, even one unfamiliar with China. Two categories of relationships are explored in depth: the emperor-bureaucrat (governor, interrogator, or general) relationship and the emperor-conspirator relationship. The relationships between individual bureaucrats and conspirators are only touched upon and they do not necessarily support Spence's conclusions.
Rating: Summary: History book that reads like a novel Review: Spence has done an incredible job of pulling together his massive research into an impressive novel. It provides great insight into the Chinese culture and inner-workings of the Qing government that I don't think I could have gotten out of any textbook, and the unusual story kept me turning the page.
Rating: Summary: Treason by the Book Review: The story of a treason investigation in eighteenth century China might have limited reader appeal until one learns the author. Yale history professor Jonathan Spence (Mao Zedong, 1999) has rivals for the title of world's leading Chinese scholar but none for the excellence of his writing in that field. Everyone hates paperwork except historians, and the massive archives of Imperial China contain treasures that scholars are still mining. Spence's odd but fascinating story begins in 1728 when a provincial governor receives a letter insulting the emperor. The paranoia of Stalin's Russia was nothing compared 18th century China. For a government official to accept such a treasonous message might be fatal. The frightened bureaucrat seized the messenger and quickly learned the names of those involved in composing the letter. Eagerly he poured a stream of reports to the emperor, a stream which quickly became a two way flood. More people were interrogated, more names were named. The efficient Chinese bureaucracy sent orders to every province to arrest and interrogate everyone named along with (this being China) their families. Ironically, to our eyes, none of the accused planned to harm anyone. Their offense was to spread rumors, grumble in private, or write poetry that might be interpreted as critical of the current dynasty. Imperial China was positively Orwellian in its efforts at thought control. Hundreds were arrested. Many spent years in prison including many of the suspects' bewildered wives, uncles, sons, and cousins. Careers were ruined (the provincial governor's among them). A few executions took place. Much poetry was burned. Eventually the government turned to other matters, and the investigation petered out. Only the paperwork remained. In movies, people from the past are identical to us except for the funny clothes. In reality, their minds worked differently; they believed strange things and behaved in ways we find incomprehensible. Yet they are recognizably human. This book, like all good history, brings it all to life.
Rating: Summary: tedious Review: This book provides the tedious details of an event of minor importance in order to show the inner workings of the Ching system of administration. Though it illustrates some of the simmering nationalism that was to influence later attempts to end the Manchu rule, I was disappointed by overwhelming amount of tedious detail that breaks apart the narrative and makes the book as a whole slow-paced. Some interesting insights are presented, but it is definitely NOT a pleasure to read.
Rating: Summary: Lacks Analysis Review: This is a solid book by a renowned China scholar. The author, Jonathan Spence, has written a number of books in which he focuses on one individual or episode of Chinese history to explore some important aspect of the Chinese past. Spence is an excellent writer and scholar who excels at weaving primary sources into a coherent narrative. In this book, Spence details the story of an obscure provincial who attempted to arouse resistance against the ruling Qing Emperor. This incredibly naive attempt is immediately crushed and the ensuing investigation is directed largely by the Emperor himself. Spence uses this story to implicitly portray several important aspects of the Qing state. Among these are the impressive reach and organization of the Ching bureaucracy, the tremendous involvement of the Emperor at the center of the Qing state, the insecurity felt by the Qing because of their non-Chinese origin, and the consequences of poorly defined succession for the Imperial throne. Other important aspects of Chinese society revealed by this story are the resentments felt by provincials unable to succeed in the Imperial examination system and the over-arching importance of Confucian ideology. This is an effective and very readable way of presenting historical information. This vignette approach, however, has significant drawbacks. Spence makes all his points implicitly and there is no explicit analysis of the importance of the phenomena exposed by the story. For example, does this story tell us something about the Qing state in general (probably yes) or does the way events unfolded have more to do with the personality of the Yongzheng emperor? Both are relevant but Spence never provides the broad perspective needed to address this question. To be a first rate book, Spence would have to provide additional information about the nature of the Qing state, the nature and consequences of dissent, and how other emperors handled these questions. As shown in some of his other books, Spence is certainly capable of broader analysis.
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