Michael Szonyi is professor of Chinese history and director of the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University. His books include Practicing Kinship: Lineage and Descent in Late Imperial China and Cold War Island: Quemoy on the Front Line.
How did ordinary people in the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) deal with the demands of the state? In The Art of Being Governed, Michael Szonyi explores the myriad ways that families fulfilled their obligations to provide a soldier to the army. The complex strategies they developed to manage their responsibilities suggest a new interpretation of an important period in China's history as well as a broader theory of politics.
Using previously untapped sources, including lineage genealogies and internal family documents, Szonyi examines how soldiers and their families living on China's southeast coast minimized the costs and maximized the benefits of meeting government demands for manpower. Families that had to provide a soldier for the army set up elaborate rules to ensure their obligation was fulfilled, and to provide incentives for the soldier not to desert his post. People in the system found ways to gain advantages for themselves and their families. For example, naval officers used the military's protection to engage in the very piracy and smuggling they were supposed to suppress. Szonyi demonstrates through firsthand accounts how subjects of the Ming state operated in a space between defiance and compliance, and how paying attention to this middle ground can help us better understand not only Ming China but also other periods and places.
發表於2025-01-22
The Art of Being Governed 2025 pdf epub mobi 電子書 下載
【編者按】宋教授於 2017 年 11 月底齣版第三本專著《The Art of Being Governed:Everyday Politics in Late Imperial China》(被統治的技藝:帝製中國晚期的日常政治,簡稱《被統治的技藝》)。從書名可知,此書與《前線島嶼》同樣受到斯科特的影響。此書以明代沿海衛所為背...
評分【編者按】宋教授於 2017 年 11 月底齣版第三本專著《The Art of Being Governed:Everyday Politics in Late Imperial China》(被統治的技藝:帝製中國晚期的日常政治,簡稱《被統治的技藝》)。從書名可知,此書與《前線島嶼》同樣受到斯科特的影響。此書以明代沿海衛所為背...
評分我完全不認為此書屬於華南學派或曆史人類學的著作,這本書的基本關照/研究側重都與華南學派大相徑庭,信仰和曆史結構的形成都不是其考慮的對象。此書就是典型的製度史著作,隻不過作者在考察階段藉鑒瞭曆史人類學的方法,又與華南學派關係較為緊密而已。這樣“活的製度史”對於...
評分平素讀書,喜好讀史,以明心智。年輕時候,眼高氣盛,喜歡讀“大曆史”:史記漢書、資治通鑒、人物傳記、諸子原典……沉浸於上下五韆年的滔滔長河,縱攬風雲際會的胸膽開張,讀得久瞭,也會做青史留名的夢,幻想自己也能像曆史上的賢纔名將似的建一番功業。然而,我們中的絕大...
評分圖書標籤: 曆史 海外中國研究 明清史 宋怡明 社會學 社會史 曆史人類學 明史
Even after the Ming dynasty collapsed, people still manage to maintain prerogatives to serve their interests in the Qing dynasty. Interestingly, local magistrate was choosing to apply an outdated regulatory regime because he saw no alternative. Seems like learning how to benefit from regulatory arbitrage has embedded in Chinese’s’ NDA.
評分Even after the Ming dynasty collapsed, people still manage to maintain prerogatives to serve their interests in the Qing dynasty. Interestingly, local magistrate was choosing to apply an outdated regulatory regime because he saw no alternative. Seems like learning how to benefit from regulatory arbitrage has embedded in Chinese’s’ NDA.
評分the second time of english reading session the author told a good.story about the military institution in the Ming dynasty. the art of not being governed by Scott,what's the difference? being away from government or wielding the legal world weapons focus on the important content !
評分明朝福建東南沿海的平民與軍戶注冊製度的互動:最優化策略optimization(宗族內輪流提供兵丁、宗族的某支長期提供兵丁,其他分支給予其補償、雇傭外人代替服役)、接近性策略proximity(利用在軍事製度中的特殊地位逐利<軍人勾結海盜走私>)、監管套利regulatory arbitrage(利用不同管理體製的重疊和間隙<軍田與民田>)、先例策略precedent(在清代軍戶尋求延續其在明朝體製下的特權)。東南沿海的宗族親屬結構不隻是文化和曆史的産物,還是政治選擇,是作為其與國傢之間的中介的非正式製度。平民利用國傢的語言、主動被國傢看見,並將其轉化為政治資源。明朝東南沿海的商品化早於商業化,在前現代中國,閤同發揮的作用與其在西方政治經濟生活中不同,是平民最優化與國傢互動的一種工具。
評分以小見大的又一範本。從軍戶在不同circumstances的生存智慧齣發,結閤“everyday politics”的概念,對明朝曆史的一些既有理解提齣挑戰或做齣修正(contract,lineage,withdrawal of the state,commercial revolution)。Conclusion顯示野心,嘗試歸納一般意義上premodern state中state-society relations的特點(regulatory arbitrage),最後對Mitchell “state effect”的概念進行升華,提齣“premodern state effect"的概念,即the presence of state是地方統治的必要資源和一些社會現象的源頭。
The Art of Being Governed 2025 pdf epub mobi 電子書 下載