Buy used:
$29.95
$3.99 delivery May 16 - 22. Details
Or fastest delivery Tomorrow, May 9. Order within 1 hr 52 mins. Details
Used: Very Good | Details
Sold by *Top Shelf Books*
Condition: Used: Very Good
Comment: A crisp, clean copy (NO Dustjacket) with a sturdy, square binding, sharp corners, undamaged covers, bright pages, and light shelf wear. I found no writing, underlining, or highlighting in the text. No remainder marks. Not a former library book. No water damage or odors. Textbook stamp from prior owner on front, inside leaf. There is a prior textbook sticker on the back cover. This is a single book, the cover is as pictured, and it does NOT include any CDs, DVDs, or access codes. I ship daily with tracking #'s and use bubble wrap and/or cardboard packing to preserve the book's condition. Enjoy your purchase!
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

William T. Rowe
+ Follow
More books from this author
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

China's Last Empire: The Great Qing (History of Imperial China) Hardcover – October 15, 2009

by William T. Rowe (Author), Timothy Brook (Editor)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 101 ratings
See all formats and editions

In a brisk revisionist history, William Rowe challenges the standard narrative of Qing China as a decadent, inward-looking state that failed to keep pace with the modern West.

The Great Qing was the second major Chinese empire ruled by foreigners. Three strong Manchu emperors worked diligently to secure an alliance with the conquered Ming gentry, though many of their social edicts—especially the requirement that ethnic Han men wear queues—were fiercely resisted. As advocates of a “universal” empire, Qing rulers also achieved an enormous expansion of the Chinese realm over the course of three centuries, including the conquest and incorporation of Turkic and Tibetan peoples in the west, vast migration into the southwest, and the colonization of Taiwan.

Despite this geographic range and the accompanying social and economic complexity, the Qing ideal of “small government” worked well when outside threats were minimal. But the nineteenth-century Opium Wars forced China to become a player in a predatory international contest involving Western powers, while the devastating uprisings of the Taiping and Boxer rebellions signaled an urgent need for internal reform. Comprehensive state-mandated changes during the early twentieth century were not enough to hold back the nationalist tide of 1911, but they provided a new foundation for the Republican and Communist states that would follow.

This original, thought-provoking history of China’s last empire is a must-read for understanding the challenges facing China today.

Read more Read less
Previous page
  1. Book 6 of 6
    History of imperial China
  2. Print length
    368 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Belknap Press
  5. Publication date
    October 15, 2009
  6. Dimensions
    6.5 x 1 x 9.75 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    0674036123
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0674036123
  9. See all details
Next page
Amazon First Reads | Editors' picks at exclusive prices

Editorial Reviews

Review

In a fine, well-written study, Rowe brings the latest scholarship in Qing history to a wide audience. This book reflects a lifetime of reading in the field, and is written in the fluent manner of an accomplished and very successful author. Responsible and judicious, it makes an important contribution to our understanding of Chinese history. (R. Kent Guy, University of Washington)

Here is a new narrative for Chinese history. It is based on the path-breaking scholarship of a small body of principally American scholars who have shown that after the non-Han Manchus conquered the Ming in 1644, traditional China was gradually replaced by something very different. This meant that the previous explanations, emanating from the Harvard school, led by the persuasive John King Fairbank, which emphasized a succession of essentially unchanging dynasties, must be abandoned...In short, as Professor Rowe sets out in this important book, "the inward-looking and hermetic Celestial Empire" has vanished and something far more interesting has come convincingly before us. (Jonathan Mirsky Times Literary Supplement 2009-12-04)

A very fine book, drawing on the best new scholarship on this pivotal period in Chinese history. (K. E. Stapleton Choice 2010-03-01)

This series on China, brilliantly overseen by Timothy Brook, is a credit to Harvard University Press. Above all, it encourages us to think of China in different ways. (Jonathan Mirsky Literary Review 2010-11-01)

About the Author

William T. Rowe is John and Diane Cooke Professor of Chinese History at Johns Hopkins University.

Timothy Brook is Professor of History and Republic of China Chair at the University of British Columbia.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Belknap Press; 1st edition (October 15, 2009)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 368 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0674036123
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0674036123
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 1 x 9.75 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 101 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
William T. Rowe

William T. Rowe

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
101 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

philipmerrill
5.0 out of 5 stars this is a truly amazing book
Reviewed in the United States on October 23, 2013
Verified Purchase
Note that there are more reviews on the Hardcover version's page.

I came to this book having a decently thorough knowledge of Chinese history and having read the five "History of Imperial China" books leading up to it. I was not especially interested in the Qing, and this uniquely exciting treatment of the subject enabled me to understand why, and why I had been led to misunderstand this historical period. Rowe reviews the latest research, the research trends over decades since Wakeman changed things and Spence started his Qing journal in graduate school, while also showing how Western prejudices played their part in creating a hugely oversimplified stereotype: the stagnant Qing ruled by its inadequately modern rulers.

In some ways I can measure a Chinese history book now by how many pages I can read without getting overwhelmed and needing to stop for the day in order to absorb what I have read. By that standard, this book has REALLY taken me a lot longer than I expected. The whole series has an amazing topical approach that each volume pursues with various merits, but in this, Rowe's volume, there is an intellectual excitement and a sense of the greater underlying story that I encourage anyone to allow themselves to engage with, with an open mind.

China is vast and if you don't want to feel overwhelmed I cannot recommend reading any GOOD books about China. So much of the fun investigating China is the scope, the consistent framework, coming at familiar pieces of it all in unfamiliar ways, the regional and ethnic diversity and their endless implications, and of course the amazing efforts of Chinese civil servants who help Western readers like me NOT feel sorry for ourselves. Wow they had it hard.

There is a 3D aspect to the Qing. It is richly documented. It includes interactions with the West and people who played a part in the 20th century. I can advocate this book as a panorama to anyone willing to have fun reading history. For anyone who wants to dig deeper, its footnotes and bibliography provide extensive guidance, explaining what one could gain from reading various Spence or Wakeman titles as well as dozens of other specimens of the academic literature. Page for page, it's a bargain and a good read.
17 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Howard Schulman
5.0 out of 5 stars A great overview
Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2019
Verified Purchase
I really, really liked this book. Most of all, the author has been studying the topic for many many years at the most professional level, and after all that effort, he boils it all down to what you need to know, and why it is important and how it relates to prior history and how it affects things years down the road. And while he writes from a Westerner's point of view, he takes pains to make us understand the Qing's Dynasty's achievements from a Chinese point of view as well as a more neutral point of view.

For the first half of the book and the Qing Dynasty, the author concentrates on themes, so much so, that I didn't really get a good idea for who the individuals were, but that didn't bother me. I can always look this information up and quickly re-orient myself. The themes roughly did go in chronological order.

Learning Chinese history before the modern ago is difficult, and this book made it easy and very, very interesting and clear.

...one year later in August 2020 I re-read this book, after reading another excellent book on the Qianlong Emperor by Mark Elliot. For some reason, having this Emperor to use as a reference point made the first half of the book that more understandable. Either way, the book was even better the second time around.

For the most part, the first half of the Qing was KangXi and Qianlong with YongZheng's short reign in between.
6 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Daniel Biau
4.0 out of 5 stars Being considered by some specialists as the explanation of the Great Divergence between China and the West
Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2015
Verified Purchase
William T. Rowe provides a broad review of China’s last empire, insisting on the continuity between Ming and Qing dynasties and focusing on China’s political history between the seventeenth and early twentieth century. But the social and economic analysis remains rather superficial, particularly of the evolution of China during eighteenth century, a period when its most important emperors (Kangxi and Qianlong) were in charge. The lack of industrial growth during the period preceding the opium war, i.e. during the long eighteenth century is not discussed. The author should have elaborated on a key question that he himself raised in his introduction: Why was there no capitalism or industrialization in (eighteenth and) nineteenth-century China?
Being considered by some specialists as the explanation of the Great Divergence between China and the West, why did China’s industrial revolution start only in the final years of the Qing dynasty? Why were the powerful Chinese merchants unable to invest in productive urban activities as their counterparts did in the West? The main achievement of the Qing was to have extended the boundaries of the country, to have expanded the geographic scope of China and incorporated non-Han peoples, but their main failure was to have accepted an economic stagnation which in due course allowed Western powers to submit China to their rule. William T. Rowe gives us some clues but does not go enough into public policy, regulatory frameworks, economic disincentives, that partly explain the fall of imperial China.
4 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Vermontman REPOSTING OF A REVIEW BY CORRADO NERI, ITALY
5.0 out of 5 stars The finest kind of survey
Reviewed in the United States on January 6, 2010
Verified Purchase
Once in a long time, comes a history that departs from the unpalatable choice of over-specialized/detailed research topic versus unoriginal/padded general overview. William Rowe's survey volume on the Qing Dynasty is happily one such volume. Rowe has not only thoroughly digested the ever-accumulating [and now fairly massive] specialized research on the period, but also fashioned a new conception of the dynasty that deserves the attention both general readers and specialists. As a past history major, I am usually quite cynical about those who talk of history as a "building block process" in which the specialists lay the bricks and the generalists make the buildings. But in this case, Rowe has built a fine structure that also does honor to those whose contributions he utilizes. This is now the finest general volume on the Qing and is not to be missed.
29 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
ANTONIO
5.0 out of 5 stars Livro muito interessante
Reviewed in Brazil on July 2, 2021
Verified Purchase
Gostei de tudo.
Report
Iker
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written
Reviewed in Spain on July 25, 2022
Verified Purchase
This book is very beautifully written and everything seems to be in place. In enjoyed it all the way. As a non native speaker many a word had to be looked up in the dictionary, but that didn't change anything at all.

I preferred the latter part of the book (XIX and XXth centuries) rather than the first part.

The only thing I've missed is a more detailed mention of the emperors (like Puyi, of whom much has been said) and an account of the restoration attempt of 1917 (and what the Qing meant during the rest of the XXth century).

Nevertheless, in my opinion, this book develops the topic with great mastery and it's certainly suitable for those not at all versed in the matter.
Report
Spencer Gullion
4.0 out of 5 stars Very nice intro to Chinese imperial history under the Qing rule
Reviewed in Canada on September 25, 2014
Verified Purchase
Very nice intro to Chinese imperial history under the Qing rule. Recommended if you want to get a new narrative.
Report
L. Aßmann
5.0 out of 5 stars Ein gutes Werk für Fachkundige und Reisende
Reviewed in Germany on March 22, 2012
Verified Purchase
I have to agree indeed to the other feedback here; this is really a great readable work on a whole dynasty and its sveral aspects of empire building, economic and social change.
I could recommend this hightly for students of the subject, yet even for travellers ( although sometimes there are more details than a traveller would need- should not be confused with a Reiseführer). In about 200 pages this book really in readable way brings across all important details of the dynasty.
Maybe it is so readable because I studied and lived in Asia, but I think even for beginners this would make a good book on the Qing dynasty.
Report
kkbs
5.0 out of 5 stars final stage of an empire
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 11, 2011
Verified Purchase
This is the sixth and final volume of Harvard University Press' History of Imperial China. On 289 pages (plus notes and bibliography) William T. Rowe outlines the complete history of the Qing dynasty, from its beginning at the end of the Ming dynasty until the Chinese republican revolution in 1911. In contrast to at least the first four volumes of this series, chapters on governance, society and commerce are embedded into the general history, which in my view makes the book even more readable. The author puts the same weight on the early periods of the Qing, during which China expanded drastically in its territory, population and economy, as on the latter periods of confrontation with the Western powers, which ususally dominate the discussion on the Qing. Thus, the prevailing impression of decline and decadence during this dynasty is put into the right perspective. This is also indicated in the introdcution, which gives a short but interesting outline of the way how the dominating perceptions of the Qing have changed in the last decades. The text is accompanied by b/w illustration and photographies, as well as some maps. In particular when it comes to territorial expansion and administration, a few more maps certainly would have been helpful. Also some more words on the consequences on the decades to follow the revolution would have been interesting, although this certainly would not fall into the actual scope of imperial China.
Nevertheless, the book is written very well, and together with the previous five volumes, it is highly recommended for everybody interested in Chinese history. I just hope that the series may be extended by a volume each on the pre- and post-imperial history of China.
5 people found this helpful
 Report