Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Penguin Books
Pages
169
Description
Award-winning author Jonathan D. Spence paints a vivid picture of an obscure place and time: provincial China in the seventeenth century. Life in the northeastern county of T'an-ch'eng emerges here as an endless cycle of floods, plagues, crop failures, banditry, and heavy taxation. Against this turbulent background a tenacious tax collector, an irascible farmer, and an unhappy wife act out a poignant drama at whose climax the wife, having run away from her husband, returns to him, only to die at his hands. Magnificently evoking the China of long ago, The Death of Woman Wang also deepens our understanding of the China we know today.
Collection
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1978
Physical description
169 p.; 7.75 inches
ISBN
014005121X / 9780140051216
Similar in this library
User reviews
LibraryThing member Scapegoats
Great little book. Spence looks at a very small area of China during the early Qing empire. He shows the impact of big events, such as mismanagement of the empire, natural disaster and an epidemic of banditry, while not particularly noticing the change between the Ming and Qing dynasties. He paints
His sources are particularly interesting. Spence found a journal of a local bureaucrat as well as a written history of the area written only a short time after the events it records. He supplements that with the legal code of the Qing and the writing of a novelist living nearby to emphasize the priorities of the society.
This book is an easy read and very interesting. If you are interesting in life in imperial China, this one is well worth the time.
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a picture of what daily life was like, emphasizing relations within communities and women's status. His sources are particularly interesting. Spence found a journal of a local bureaucrat as well as a written history of the area written only a short time after the events it records. He supplements that with the legal code of the Qing and the writing of a novelist living nearby to emphasize the priorities of the society.
This book is an easy read and very interesting. If you are interesting in life in imperial China, this one is well worth the time.
Show Less
LibraryThing member LynnB
This short book looks at life in during the Qing dynasty in China. It examines local governance and taxation, showing the many ways in which the system was corrupt. More interesting (to me at least) were the laws and social conventions on the role of women, and on crimes of passion and/or revenge.
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The main story is the book is that of a woman who leaves her husband, and is killed after her return. An easy read, well documented, but a bit dry (until you get to the title story). Show Less
LibraryThing member pagemasterZee
I read this book on recommendation. I moderately enjoyed it, although it read more as a textbook at times rather than a pleasurable read. It was intriguing, although at times overbearing in the information that was offered. I would only recommend it to readers who are already engrossed with the
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topic. Not really idle reading. My opinion might be skewed in concerns to this author's book because I was more in the mood for the idea of the book rather then the historically accurate one that it turned out to be. I would however give this author another try at a later date. As I mentioned earlier it was an intriguing read and I'm curious as to the other topics in which the author writes on. Show Less
LibraryThing member burritapal
Meh. Only the last chapter is about Woman Wang. Disappointing read about people living in a county in Northern China. Really crappy era for women.
Subjects
Awards
Call number
FIC A4 Spe