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2025-03-23
The Art of Being Governed 2025 pdf epub mobi 電子書 下載
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...
評分來自宋怡明教授的專訪,http://mingching.sinica.edu.tw/en/Academic_Detail/567 宋教授將於 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...
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
簡直就是曆史寫作的典範! 越來越覺得曆史呀,就是關於時間的民族誌。
評分1)英文本剛齣版的時候就買瞭,但一直放在書架上沒打開來過。現在中譯本也已經齣瞭,還是老老實實拿來讀一遍吧;2)本書在學術上的貢獻,中譯本條目下薩博·羅薩博士(Dr. Sub Rosa XD...)的短評已經寫得很清楚瞭。我相信,對明清史,尤其是明清社會經濟史和法製史,以及華南研究有瞭解的朋友,應該是很能夠進入本書的脈絡的。其實Szonyi講的東西並不難,但值得注意的是,他用瞭怎樣的理論架構以及敘述脈絡,串起一些既有的研究,然後把故事講得清楚,說得精彩;3)關於「套利」,可以讀一讀宮崎廣和(Hirokazu Miyazaki)的Arbitraging Japan;4)突然發現宋怡明的三本書我都讀過,講金門的依稀還有印象,第一本Practicing Kinship已經完全不知道講的是啥瞭。。。
評分理論一團糟,但是有重要的介入
評分非常好,尤其是書寫策略。
評分理論一團糟,但是有重要的介入
The Art of Being Governed 2025 pdf epub mobi 電子書 下載