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2025-03-30
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2020—13! 集權專製體製下,百姓像鍾擺般在順民與暴民兩端來迴擺檔,在這中間,百姓又是什麼狀態呢?象我們一般想象的逆來順受嗎? 本書以明代衛所軍事體製下的福建沿海軍戶生存狀態為切入點,利用當地族譜,嚮我們展示瞭中間狀態下的百姓的日常政治,這些狡黠的沉默的大多數...
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...
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
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。
評分"State interventions and the responses of people affected by those interventions generated transformations in the architecture of social space."
評分繼承瞭傳統漢學見微知著的特點,從微觀研究中探討基本的「國傢-社會」的宏大問題,在如今的美國中國史研究中顯得尤為難得。太久沒讀明代研究,感覺還是那麼熟悉。
評分理論受影響於福柯的governmentality, James Scott的<The Art of Not Being Governed>還有再地化。其實一直覺得everyday politics本身就是一個用來挑戰福柯非常好用的概念。
評分我磕磕絆絆讀完然後戰戰兢兢打個四星。雖然很多anecdote很通俗接地氣,但行文畢竟非常學術,偶爾覺得dry. 中國人民與天鬥與官鬥的智慧並不會surprise我,但作者的格局更高,隻恨我沒有社會學或者曆史研究的理論基礎,沒法dive deep瞭。母上大人不知道看瞭矮大緊哪個節目後給我強烈推薦這本書,我覺得她自己不一定能讀進去...
The Art of Being Governed 2025 pdf epub mobi 電子書 下載