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Title: Daily Life in China, on the Eve of the Mongol Invasion, 1250-1276. by Jacques Gernet ISBN: 0-8047-0720-0 Publisher: Stanford University Press Pub. Date: 01 June, 1962 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (2 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Hangzhou during the Southern Song.
Comment: Translated from the French by H.M. Wright. The overall theme of the book is to dispel the notion of a China that was immobile, and that this lack of change is what aided in the success of the Mongol invasion. From a plethora of sources, Gernet reconstructs a snapshot of how society functioned during the end of the Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279), only a few years before the invasion. To accomplish this task the book looks at a twenty-six year period (1250-1276), focusing on the Southern Song capital, Hangzhou, and its immediate surrounding areas. Areas of exploration include Hangzhou's social makeup (the upper classes, the merchants [which had increasingly gained importance], and the lower classes) to even details on clothing, cooking, festivals, and leisure hours.
The book overall is facinating in its detail and in the subject matter the author chose to explore. Many of the subjects have not been written about since, so there are still many avenues for further research. It has to be pointed out here that in light of the recent scholarly debates questioning the validity over Marco Polo's writings (see: Frances Woods, 1998 ; US News and World Report, 7/24/00), the quotes used in the book must be looked upon with this in mind. Gernet even points out that a few of the quotes he used in the book did not correspond with Chinese sources of the time (pp. 36, 47).
Although Gernet shows us a glimpse of Southern Song daily life, one with any knowledge of daily life in today's China will notice certain similarities between the two. The growth in mercantilism, rural to urban mass migration, the great disparity between the rich and poor, the popularity of prostitution and other promiscuous behavior all can be found in both societies.
One cannot help but walk away from a reading of this book and contemplate how China would have been today if it were not for the Mongol invasion, which halted the birth of a "modern China", centuries before the West. However, this Chinese modernization would have been far different from the West's given the way Chinese society is constructed, which has lent value to a person only within his/her social relations and has lacked any emancipation of the individual, (the cornerstone of modern Europe).
Rating: 5
Summary: Lao's review
Comment: This is one of my earliest and most valuable finds, an excellent resource for the study and/or reenactment of the period. The first several chapters detail city life, social classes, housing, cooking and personal grooming. The later chapters cover the broader subjects of life cycle (birth, marriage and death rituals), and the yearly cycle (festivals, religions observances). Detailed and well footnoted.
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Title: Khubilai Khan: His Life and Times by Morris Rossabi ISBN: 0520067401 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: 01 May, 1990 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
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Title: Sources of Chinese Tradition by William Theodore De Bary, Irene Bloom, Joseph Adler ISBN: 0231109393 Publisher: Columbia University Press Pub. Date: 15 March, 2000 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: A History of Chinese Civilization by Jacques Gernet, J. R. Foster, Charles Hartman ISBN: 0521497817 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 31 May, 1996 List Price(USD): $29.00 |
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Title: China's Examination Hell: The Civil Service Examinations of Imperial China by Ichisada Miyazaki ISBN: 0300026390 Publisher: Yale University Press Pub. Date: 01 June, 1981 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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Title: Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook by Patricia Buckley Ebrey ISBN: 002908752X Publisher: Free Press Pub. Date: 01 May, 1993 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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