View source for The Chinese State in Ming Society

{{Short description|Book by Timothy Brook}}
{{infobox book | <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Novels or Wikipedia:WikiProject_Books -->
| name         = The Chinese State in Ming Society
| title_orig   =
| translator   =
| image        = The Chinese State in Ming Society.jpg
| caption = Front cover of ''The Chinese State in Ming Society''
| author       = [[Timothy Brook]]
| cover_artist =
| country      = [[London]], United Kingdom
| language     = English
| series       =
| genre        = History
| publisher    = ''[[Routledge]]'' (Critical Asian Scholarship series)
| release_date = 17 December 2004
| media_type   = Print ([[Hardcover|Hardback]])
| pages        = 272
| isbn =  0-415-34506-5
| oclc=
| preceded_by  =
| followed_by  =
}}
'''''The Chinese State in Ming Society''''' is a history book which investigates the role of the [[Government|state]] in China in the [[Ming dynasty]] (from 1368 to 1644 in the [[Late Imperial China|late Imperial Chinese era]]); the interface between the state and [[society]], and the effect of the state on ordinary people.<ref name="NewZealandJournalOfAsianStudies">{{cite journal
| last = Soulliere
| first = Ellen
| authorlink =
| title = Timothy Brook, The Chinese State in Ming Society
| journal = [[New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies]]
| volume = 8
| issue = 1
| pages = 168–171
| publisher = New Zealand Asian Studies Society
| date = June 2006
| url = http://www.nzasia.org.nz/downloads/NZJAS-June06/8.pdf
| doi =
| id =
| accessdate = 2010-01-28}}</ref><ref name="RoutledgeBlurb">{{cite book
| last = Staff
| authorlink =
| title = The Chinese State in Ming Society: About the Book
| publisher = [[Routledge]]
| year = 2004
| url = http://www.routledge.com/books/The-Chinese-State-in-Ming-Society
| isbn = 978-0-415-34507-1
| accessdate = 2010-01-29}}</ref>
The book is written by [[Timothy Brook]], a distinguished<ref name="WashingtonPostDirda">{{cite news
| last = Dirda
| first = Michael
| title = Painting the World: How a hunger for tea and tobacco created global trade.
| newspaper = [[Washington Post]]
| date = 27 January 2008
| url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/24/AR2008012402715.html
| accessdate = 2010-01-22}}</ref> Canadian [[historian]] who specializes in the study of China ([[Sinology]]).<ref name="ObserverConrad">{{cite web
| authorlink = Peter Conrad (academic)
| last = Conrad
| first = Peter
| title = A time when every picture told a story
| work= [[The Observer]]
| date = 29 June 2008
| url = https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2008/jun/29/review.features1
| accessdate = 2010-01-22}}</ref>
==Synopsis==
''The Chinese State in Ming Society '' is set in the Ming dynasty, an era in which there was much "[[Commerce|commercial]] expansion and [[Culture|cultural]] [[innovation]]".<ref name="RoutledgeBlurb"/> The book is an "account of events and issues that engaged the members of local [[elite]]s in [[Ming dynasty|Ming]] society and of the interface between these elites and the state,"<ref name="NewZealandJournalOfAsianStudies"/> and the impact of the state on ordinary people in areas such as [[education]], [[Judiciary|justice]], the [[military]] and [[taxation]].<ref name="NewZealandJournalOfAsianStudies"/>
The book consists of a reworking of eight "heavily illustrated" essays which Brook has written and published separately over the years, and is divided into four main sections (parts I to IV) with two of these essays to each part of the book.<ref name="NewZealandJournalOfAsianStudies"/><ref name="RoutledgeBlurb"/> The parts are named "Space", "Fields", "Books" and "[[Monastery|Monasteries]]", each of which "represent important areas of intersection between the Ming state and society."<ref name="NewZealandJournalOfAsianStudies"/><ref name="RoutledgeBlurb"/>
Brook argues that the model of [[despotism|despotic government]] fails to account for the complex interactions between individuals, groups, communities, society and state in this period.<ref name="NewZealandJournalOfAsianStudies"/> Instead he proposes that by 1500 the Chinese had a remarkably developed system of [[Government|governance]], surpassing that of the European [[Monarchy|monarchs]] of the time, and that the developments were not the result of the isolated actions of the state, but rather of a complex interface and interaction, including local representatives of the state such as [[magistrate]]s and local networks of the elite [[Social class|class]] of [[gentry]].<ref name="NewZealandJournalOfAsianStudies"/> According to Ellen Soulliere in her review, Brook argues that "society had the [enduring] ability to constrain, limit and sometimes redirect the [[authority]] of the state, without challenging its most basic claim to be the source of all legitimate authority."<ref name="NewZealandJournalOfAsianStudies"/>
==Reception==
{{Expand section|date=January 2010}}
Writing in the ''[[New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies]]'', Ellen Soulliere describes the book as a "detailed", "succinct" and "compelling" account.<ref name="NewZealandJournalOfAsianStudies"/> In conclusion, she states that "All in all, this is a fascinating and very valuable book that addresses major themes in [[History of China|Chinese history]] while greatly expanding our detailed knowledge of the issues that engaged people at the level of their local communities. It illuminates the [[Group conflict|conflicts]] and [[Controversy|controversies]] that kept the state and society in a state of dynamic tension throughout the Ming period and beyond."<ref name="NewZealandJournalOfAsianStudies"/>
==Notes==
{{reflist|colwidth=35em}}
==References==
*{{cite journal
| last = Nakajima
| first = Gakusho
| authorlink =
| title = The Chinese State in Ming Society by Timothy Brook
| journal = International Journal of Asian Studies
| volume = 3
| issue = 1
| pages = 143–147
| publisher = [[Association for Asian Studies]]
| date = January 2006
| url = http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayIssue?jid=ASI&volumeId=3&issueId=01
| doi = 10.1017/S1479591405280257
| s2cid = 144121735
| id =
| accessdate = 2010-01-26}}
*{{cite journal
| last = Soulliere
| first = Ellen
| authorlink =
| title = Timothy Brook, The Chinese State in Ming Society
| journal = [[New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies]]
| volume = 8
| issue = 1
| pages = 168–171
| publisher = New Zealand Asian Studies Society
| date = June 2006
| url = http://www.nzasia.org.nz/downloads/NZJAS-June06/8.pdf
| doi =
| id =
| accessdate = 2010-01-28}}
==External links==
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{{External links for Timothy Brook (historian)}}
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{{Timothy Brook}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chinese State in Ming Society, The}}
[[Category:2004 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:History books about the Ming dynasty]]
[[Category:Political history]]
[[Category:Books by Timothy Brook]]
[[Category:Routledge books]]