Christopher’s Reviews > Imperial China, 900–1800 > Status Update

I do wish more was said about the dissolution of the Yuan and the Mongol retreat northwards. The founding of the Ming is almost entirely told as a story of rebel armies, especially the Red Turbans, competing amongst themselves for a power that the reader is left to mostly guess simply evaporated. Sure, we heard lots about Yuan weakness, but I feel like the actual fall was glossed over too quickly.

Finally on to the Ming.

What does Mote have against the south? Seemingly endless discussion of northern states, references to "Korea, Japan and Annam," as if they constituted the whole of the sinosphere (though he's not even mentioned that Vietnam was just coming out of a thousand years under Chinese rule), a reader could be forgiven for not realizing the Dali Kingdom existed at this time. I wonder if Kokang will get its mention in time.

His frequent use of the "Altaic language family" and some other minor squabbles aside, I'm hoping that this will end up being the political history of China for which I've so long been searching.