Michael Szonyi
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780691197241
- eISBN:
- 9781400888887
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691197241.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
How did ordinary people in the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) deal with the demands of the state? This book explores the myriad ways that families fulfilled their obligations to provide a soldier to the ...
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How did ordinary people in the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) deal with the demands of the state? This book 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. The book 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. The book demonstrates 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. The book illustrates the ways that arrangements between communities and the state hundreds of years ago have consequences and relevance for how we look at diverse cultures and societies, even today.Less
How did ordinary people in the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) deal with the demands of the state? This book 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. The book 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. The book demonstrates 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. The book illustrates the ways that arrangements between communities and the state hundreds of years ago have consequences and relevance for how we look at diverse cultures and societies, even today.
Melvyn C. Goldstein, Dawei Sherap, and William R. Siebenschuh
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520240896
- eISBN:
- 9780520940307
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520240896.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
Batang has always been politically troubled, and Phüntso Wangye's later life as a Tibetan revolutionary is rooted in its turbulent history and the experiences of his childhood there. The Khampas have ...
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Batang has always been politically troubled, and Phüntso Wangye's later life as a Tibetan revolutionary is rooted in its turbulent history and the experiences of his childhood there. The Khampas have always deeply resented being ruled by outsiders, and there were repeated uprisings against the Chinese officials and troops in the area. Kesang Tsering defeated the Chinese troops and ruled Batang. The Chinese were not going to take such a defeat lightly, and other forces began to gather against Kesang almost immediately. The stalemate ended abruptly when word arrived that Liu Wenhui had sent an army from Tartsedo to retake Batang. The Chinese soldiers took possession of the town uncontested. When they approached, the Tibetan government troops withdrew across the Drichu River and returned to the garrison at Markam. After the executions, Batang went back to normal. However, feelings were running high about the killings and the rule of General Liu.Less
Batang has always been politically troubled, and Phüntso Wangye's later life as a Tibetan revolutionary is rooted in its turbulent history and the experiences of his childhood there. The Khampas have always deeply resented being ruled by outsiders, and there were repeated uprisings against the Chinese officials and troops in the area. Kesang Tsering defeated the Chinese troops and ruled Batang. The Chinese were not going to take such a defeat lightly, and other forces began to gather against Kesang almost immediately. The stalemate ended abruptly when word arrived that Liu Wenhui had sent an army from Tartsedo to retake Batang. The Chinese soldiers took possession of the town uncontested. When they approached, the Tibetan government troops withdrew across the Drichu River and returned to the garrison at Markam. After the executions, Batang went back to normal. However, feelings were running high about the killings and the rule of General Liu.
Josephine Nock-Hee Park
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- June 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780190257668
- eISBN:
- 9780190257699
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190257668.003.0010
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 20th Century Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
The Conclusion returns to two canonical Asian American texts: Maxine Hong Kingston’s paired epics The Woman Warrior and China Men. The chapter rereads two key episodes in these works within Cold War ...
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The Conclusion returns to two canonical Asian American texts: Maxine Hong Kingston’s paired epics The Woman Warrior and China Men. The chapter rereads two key episodes in these works within Cold War contexts: Maxine’s torture scene, in which she recreates a scene of Korean War prisoner interrogation, in The Woman Warrior, and her brother’s service during Vietnam, which paradoxically secures their family’s American standing, in China Men. By demonstrating how attending to Cold War figuration can deepen and expand the politics of Asian American subject formation, the Conclusion underscores the complexity of maintaining selves through political attachment. The friendly offers a periodizing and politicizing lens for comprehending a range of literary acts of alliance. This study ends by insisting upon reading significant acts of self-making in expressions of Cold War political longings.Less
The Conclusion returns to two canonical Asian American texts: Maxine Hong Kingston’s paired epics The Woman Warrior and China Men. The chapter rereads two key episodes in these works within Cold War contexts: Maxine’s torture scene, in which she recreates a scene of Korean War prisoner interrogation, in The Woman Warrior, and her brother’s service during Vietnam, which paradoxically secures their family’s American standing, in China Men. By demonstrating how attending to Cold War figuration can deepen and expand the politics of Asian American subject formation, the Conclusion underscores the complexity of maintaining selves through political attachment. The friendly offers a periodizing and politicizing lens for comprehending a range of literary acts of alliance. This study ends by insisting upon reading significant acts of self-making in expressions of Cold War political longings.
