The Cambridge History of China: Volume 9, The Ch'ing Dynasty to 1800, Part 2 The Cambridge History of China Series

Volume 9, Part 2 of The Cambridge History of China is the second of two volumes which together explore the political, social and economic developments of the Ch'ing Empire during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries prior to the arrival of Western military power. Across fifteen chapters, a team of leading historians explore how the eighteenth century's greatest contiguous empire in terms of geographical size, population, wealth, cultural production, political order and military domination peaked and then began to unravel. The book sheds new light on the changing systems deployed under the Ch'ing dynasty to govern its large, multi-ethnic Empire and surveys the dynasty's complex relations with neighbouring states and Europe. In this compelling and authoritative account of a significant era of early modern Chinese history, the volume illustrates the ever-changing nature of the Ch'ing Empire, and provides context for the unforeseeable challenges that the nineteenth century would bring.

Introduction. The Ch'ing Dynasty, the Ch'ing Empire, and the Great Ch'ing Willard J. Peterson; 1. Governing provinces R. Kent Guy; 2. Taiwan prefecture in the eighteenth century John Robert Shepherd; 3. The extension of Ch'ing rule over Mongolia, Sinkiang, and Tibet, 1636–1800 Nicola Di Cosmo; 4. Tributary relations between the Chosŏn and Ch'ing courts to 1800 Lim Jongtae; 5. The emergence of the state of Vietnam John K. Whitmore and Brian Zottoli; 6. Cultural transfers between Tokugawa Japan and Ch'ing China to 1800 Benjamin A. Elman; 7. Ch'ing relations with maritime Europeans John E. Wills, Jr and John L. Cranmer-Byng; 8. Catholic missionaries, 1644–1800 John W. Witek; 9. Calendrical learning and medicine, 1600–1800 Chu Pingyi; 10. Taoists, 1644–1850 Vincent Goossaert; 11. Arguments over learning based on intuitive knowing in early Ch'ing Willard J. Peterson; 12. Advancement of learning in early Ch'ing: three cases Willard J. Peterson; 13. Dominating learning from above during the K'ang-hsi period Willard J. Peterson; 14. Political pressures on the cultural sphere in the Ch'ing period Wang Fan-sen; 15. Changing roles of local elites from the 1720s to 1830s Seunghyun Han; Bibliography; Glossary; Index.

Willard J. Peterson is the Gordon Wu Professor of Chinese Studies at Princeton University, New Jersey. He is the editor of Volume 9 of The Cambridge History of China series, and is also author of two chapters in Volume 8 of the series. His main field is Ming-Ch'ing intellectual history.