Rating: 
Summary: A Gem of a Book!
Review: I often find myself falling asleep after reading autobiographies or bibliographies because they are too long-winded, too boring or too long. Yet after reading the first few pages of this gem of a book, I was kept glued until the very end. And I still wanted to read it again. Professor Spence has made Kang Xi come to live; as you read, you imagine it is Kang Xi himself speaking even though he lived over 200 years ago. In reading this book, I chuckled at Kang Xi's sense of humour, was surprised how down-to-earth he sounded, and emphatised with his despair and disappointment at his heir-apparent.
Rating:
Summary: A Gem of a Book!
Review: I often find myself falling asleep after reading autobiographies or bibliographies because they are too long-winded, too boring or too long. Yet after reading the first few pages of this gem of a book, I was kept glued until the very end. And I still wanted to read it again. Professor Spence has made Kang Xi come to live; as you read, you imagine it is Kang Xi himself speaking even though he lived over 200 years ago. In reading this book, I chuckled at Kang Xi's sense of humour, was surprised how down-to-earth he sounded, and emphatised with his despair and disappointment at his heir-apparent.
Rating:
Summary: It's good to read a non-Western history for a change
Review: In this book, Jonathan Spence has assembled a narrative montage from the fragmentary surviving writings of the ruler of a great nation who lived three hundred years ago and half a world away. In so doing, Spence has crafted a work that reads seamlessly as if it were Emperor K'ang Hsi's own memoirs. Knowing as we do that even democracies frequently fail to produce leaders equal to the task of governance, one is pleasantly amazed when a hereditary ruler proves more than able wisely to govern in an enlightened fashion. In fact, in some ways the emperor comes across as very modern, so that the chapter entitled "Sons", with it's strong supernatural component, strikes one as all the more disturbing -- like finding a skull while perusing beloved family heirlooms. I say this without intended condescension, because the events described in that chapter would be accepted matter-of-factly in many American Christian churches, particularly those with fundamentalist or charismatic leanings. I don't pretend to bring any deep historical/philosophical erudition to my consideration of this book, but I think that any book that illuminates the life of a great man is worth reading, and if he has qualities of wisdom and humility, so much the better, and if he lived in a time and place that I had little fore-knowledge of, the book is twice worthy. I highly recommend "Emperor of China".
Rating:
Summary: It's good to read a non-Western history for a change
Review: In this book, Jonathan Spence has assembled a narrative montage from the fragmentary surviving writings of the ruler of a great nation who lived three hundred years ago and half a world away. In so doing, Spence has crafted a work that reads seamlessly as if it were Emperor K'ang Hsi's own memoirs. Knowing as we do that even democracies frequently fail to produce leaders equal to the task of governance, one is pleasantly amazed when a hereditary ruler proves more than able wisely to govern in an enlightened fashion. In fact, in some ways the emperor comes across as very modern, so that the chapter entitled "Sons", with it's strong supernatural component, strikes one as all the more disturbing -- like finding a skull while perusing beloved family heirlooms. I say this without intended condescension, because the events described in that chapter would be accepted matter-of-factly in many American Christian churches, particularly those with fundamentalist or charismatic leanings. I don't pretend to bring any deep historical/philosophical erudition to my consideration of this book, but I think that any book that illuminates the life of a great man is worth reading, and if he has qualities of wisdom and humility, so much the better, and if he lived in a time and place that I had little fore-knowledge of, the book is twice worthy. I highly recommend "Emperor of China".
Rating:
Summary: excellent introduction to late imperial China
Review: Jonathan D. Spence has accomplished a lot in this remarkable biography of the second emperor of the last Chinese imperial dynasty Qing, K'and-Hsi, for the general audience. Based on the writing of the emperor, court records and later secondary sources, book follows the emperor through his struggles with opposition, Manchurian and Han nobility, his troubled relationships with his numerous sons, his old age, and his legacy. Remarkable in its vividness is last few chapters, where the emperor legacy is laid out based on the official court-issued papers, and the informal drafts of the will. I would like to see more description of court ceremony; and perhaps a more thorough reflection on the Manchu / Han opposition; but those subjects are well covered in the other book by the same author (e.g. "The Search for Modern China"). Great starting point for anybody interested in Chinese history.
Rating:
Summary: excellent introduction to late imperial China
Review: Jonathan D. Spence has accomplished a lot in this remarkable biography of the second emperor of the last Chinese imperial dynasty Qing, K'and-Hsi, for the general audience. Based on the writing of the emperor, court records and later secondary sources, book follows the emperor through his struggles with opposition, Manchurian and Han nobility, his troubled relationships with his numerous sons, his old age, and his legacy. Remarkable in its vividness is last few chapters, where the emperor legacy is laid out based on the official court-issued papers, and the informal drafts of the will. I would like to see more description of court ceremony; and perhaps a more thorough reflection on the Manchu / Han opposition; but those subjects are well covered in the other book by the same author (e.g. "The Search for Modern China"). Great starting point for anybody interested in Chinese history.
Rating:
Summary: Great book.
Review: Jonathan Spence's "Emperor of China" is a very unique, creative book. His approach to writing biography -- in this case, the life of the late-17th- and early-18th-century emperor K'ang-Hsi -- is startlingly innovative. Spence has actually constructed a sort of posthumous autobiography: he extracts segments from the emperor's copious writings and weaves them into a "self-portrait." Thus, we get to know K'ang-Hsi through his own words as he writes of such topics as hunting, invention, the Jesuits, government, and the introduction of Western science. While I don't want to sound like an abstruse literary theorist, Spence's "Emperor of China" is a fine example of how to rework an old text into a new one. That is, in the best tradition of "translation," one author (Spence) actually ends up rewriting another author's (K'ang-Hsi's) very own words. Something in the line of Jorge Luis Borges' short story, "Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote." As the book cover states, K'ang-Hsi sounds suprisingly modern. And the book's power and ability to excite is not just the product of Spence's genius for writing: for me, personally, this account of Chinese court culture was very revelatory. I find K'ang-Hsi and his China a thousand times more admirable than his contemporaries or near-contemporaries in Europe: indeed, the emperor preceded the best of Europe's so-called "enlightened despots" by almost a century. What a disgrace that we in the United States know so little about such a brilliant reign. On that note, however, Jonathan Spence's many books -- "Emperor of China" among them -- are invaluable aids to fostering our appreciation of this fascinating period in Chinese history.
Rating:
Summary: Great book.
Review: Jonathan Spence's "Emperor of China" is a very unique, creative book. His approach to writing biography -- in this case, the life of the late-17th- and early-18th-century emperor K'ang-Hsi -- is startlingly innovative. Spence has actually constructed a sort of posthumous autobiography: he extracts segments from the emperor's copious writings and weaves them into a "self-portrait." Thus, we get to know K'ang-Hsi through his own words as he writes of such topics as hunting, invention, the Jesuits, government, and the introduction of Western science. While I don't want to sound like an abstruse literary theorist, Spence's "Emperor of China" is a fine example of how to rework an old text into a new one. That is, in the best tradition of "translation," one author (Spence) actually ends up rewriting another author's (K'ang-Hsi's) very own words. Something in the line of Jorge Luis Borges' short story, "Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote." As the book cover states, K'ang-Hsi sounds suprisingly modern. And the book's power and ability to excite is not just the product of Spence's genius for writing: for me, personally, this account of Chinese court culture was very revelatory. I find K'ang-Hsi and his China a thousand times more admirable than his contemporaries or near-contemporaries in Europe: indeed, the emperor preceded the best of Europe's so-called "enlightened despots" by almost a century. What a disgrace that we in the United States know so little about such a brilliant reign. On that note, however, Jonathan Spence's many books -- "Emperor of China" among them -- are invaluable aids to fostering our appreciation of this fascinating period in Chinese history.
Rating: 
Summary: Read carefully
Review: Spence deserves his wide reputation as America's foremost China scholar. In this book (which I admit that I had to read for class) he tells of one of the most famous emporers from the Qing dynasty. Spence wrote this book using scraps and notes found from this era. Sometimes it's hard to see where the line is between hard fact and Spence's conjecture, however, given the quality of his other research, I'll trust his conjecture even if he doesn't always offer up the evidence to support it. Read it carefully though, so you know what's what.
Rating:
Summary: The Best of Spence's Books
Review: This is a very interesting book by the distinguished Yale scholar Jonathan Spence. Spence's approach is often unconventional. He has a written several books in which an important theme of Chinese history is examined by close analysis of a single episode of Chinese history. In this case, Spence's goal is to depict the center of the Chinese political system, the Emperor. Spence accomplishes this goal by editing the writings of an important Qing Emperor, K'ang Hsi, into an autobiographical work. This is daring and surprisingly successful. Spence is careful to show both private and public aspects of K'ang Hsi. A good deal of the success of this book must be attributable to K'ang Hsi himself. Through Spence's careful editing, K'ang Hsi emerges as a vigorous and articulate individual who seems to have had an attractive personality. This book is simultaneously edifying and entertaining.
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