十八世纪中国社会

by Susan Naquin, Evelyn S. Rawski, 韩书瑞

《十八世纪中国社会》作者在研究方法上又深受法国年鉴学派的影响，接受了年鉴派学者“长时段”的概念，故而对18世纪中国社会的研究扩展到1680—1820年间，向前追溯至清朝的建立，往后延伸到18世纪对后一世纪的影响，以此见出历史发展的渐进延续。中国近三百年的历史，18世纪相对来说不太受重视，学者们更关注的是19世纪的变革和20世纪的革命。另外学者们对18世纪中国社会的总体评价也不高，认为这是个腐败奢靡、文化停滞的时期。而这本由两位美国女学者撰写的著作对此有不同的看法，她们认为“18世纪在中国近代早期是最有活力的一个时期”。《十八世纪中国社会》的核心观点强调，18世纪中国社会的活力体现在向边远地区大量移民，对外贸易成为经济发展中的重要因素，“商品化、城市化以及社会和物质流动的加强有助于松动原来固定的社会地位，并使社会分层更加多元化”。另外这一时期学术上的成就为中国近代的各门学术奠定了基础，商人的往来活动以及他们扶植培育的城市文化也有助于清帝国的统一和整合。

《十八世纪中国社会》是部概览性的史学著作，作者以史学的分析论说为主要著述方法，同时吸纳了社会学重视结构变化和人类学关注文明片段的研究手段，使得《十八世纪中国社会》读来既有得知历史事实的畅然，又有洞悉深层奥秘的明快。

Genres: History, China, Nonfiction, Society, Research

268 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1987

Reviews

[Emma Deplores Goodreads Censorship · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an informative book, but a very academic one, in the sense that it speaks in generalities, abstractions and conclusions rather than specific people or incidents, colorful examples or stories around major events. The authors cover a lot of information about politics, the economy, religion, social structure, employment and leasing relationships, etc., in 18th century China. This is a good book if you're interested in crops and industries located in specific areas, the status of intellectuals and civil service examinations, who took responsibility for public works, how tightly controlled by the emperor different areas of the country were, and what popular pilgrimage sites were located in different regions. It's not as good if you're looking for a sense of what people's lives were like, or if you want your history enlivened by human interest anecdotes; aside from emperors, who are discussed in terms of their policies, I think only a couple of people are even mentioned by name. And it definitely seems like a compilation of research rather than a book in dialogue with others, since it seems to stick to pretty anodyne information without much analysis. The cultural information in the first half is still interesting, though the "Regional Societies" section dominating the second half was a slog, largely documenting the major products and ethnic groups of each region. (Somewhat confusingly, the authors have chosen to refer to ethnic minorities by their historical Chinese names, such as "Miao" for the Hmong, rather than the names modern readers are more likely to be familiar with. They use archaic names for cities, like Peking, as well.) I don't want to penalize an academic book too hard for being academic (though I really wish more popular histories were available in English), but it would have been nice if it were more engaging.

[Kent · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comprehensive survey of what’s regarded as peak Qing greatly boosted this non-historian’s understanding of modern China. Chapters on social change and regional differences especially strong; these are exactly the topics given short shrift in too many books on China. Extremely compact writing best read in short bursts.

[Mely · Rating 2 out of 5]

IT TOOK TWO YEARS, BUT FINALLY I HAVE FINISHED THIS INTERMINABLE BOOK.