1587, A Year of No Significance: The Ming Dynasty in Decline

Early of this year, I determined that if the book I want to read was written in English originally, I would read the original English version instead of Chinese translating version in order to improve my reading English but also experience what the authors express directly. Some days before, I have bought the Chinese version of "1587, A Year of No Significance" through local e-commerce website as a company benefit. I found that although the author Ray HUANG is a Chinese this book was written in English first. So, I decided to buy an English version in addition.I searched it on Amazon.cn, but it could be delivered in 1-3 months. It's unacceptable for me. As a result, after the service of shipping to China had been offered for a long time already, I tried it first.Unexpectedly, I received it today, just 3 weeks after my ordering. Although there are creases on the cover and the first 30 pages of the book, I'm still very exciting about my first experience of Amazon.com.I'll write down my impression here after reading the book. And I'm expected for the different feelings of reading and comparing the two versions.

The author is the foremost authority on Ming Dynasty history.

A friend recommended this book stating it would help me to understand why communism works in China. Warning, the first two chapters are absolutely boring. I wanted to give up but I decided to overcome it and it was worth it. Rather than explaining why communism works, I would say it explains why their style of communism easily took control. It comes down to education in the end.

I had to read a number of works on late imperial China for a project, and this was by far the most enjoyable, and one of the most illuminating. A group portrait of life in the court of the Wanli emperor, it provides an indelible image of reformers struggling, always in vain, against a tottering, corrupt political bureaucracy that thwarted them at every turn. Huang made me feel like I was peering over the courtiers' shoulders as the imperial system, which had lasted for so many centuries, finally collapsed.The only reason not to give it five stars is that, in organizing each chapter around a single person, Huang necessarily crossed the same ground a number of times, which made the book seem, here and there, a bit repetitious. But this is a fine piece of work, always interesting and often enthralling. I've never read another book like it.

Clean, clear and to the point, Ray Huang provides an extraordinary examination of one of those "turning point" or "watershed" years we tend to recognize only in hindsight. Chinese vocabulary and terms are kept to a minimum, press into service only when it supports the goals of the passage. Though the book is historic in nature, the author forces no judgements but allows the reader to develop their own conclusions about the nature of the events that took place. We could do a lot worse to have more of this sort of writing on what can be a very muddled and turbulent portion of the Human story.

Both English and Chinese versions are available. They are not translations to each other....the author actually is good at both languages and he wrote both versions directly.

Loved reading this. It puts you into the world like a good historical fiction novel, but minus the "fiction" part.

Excellent

A very good insight into the minds of the men who ran the Chinese Empire. How they failed to adjust to a changing world, but how this could seem entirely right and proper from their viewpoint.

A very detailed look at the decline of the Ming dynasty. At the year 1587, it's still another 50 years before the dynasty totally collapses, but already you can see many signs of decline; the bureaucracy and institutions are unable to govern effectively. Despite the best intentions of several characters to do the right thing, it's beyond the point of no return. The problems are so widespread and systemic that nobody, not even the emperor, can do much but watch helplessly.Two things that I disliked about the book are: (1) all the proper names are in the Wade-Giles romanization system instead of the Pinyin system which is more standard today, and (2) there's too much focus on this narrow timeframe, the author doesn't really connect the events to other events happening in Asia, how the Ming institutions influenced the later Qing dynasty and modern China, etc. He assumes you already know how the Qing conquered the Ming, so he doesn't try to situate the events in the book in the bigger context.

A normal year in history, but it’s influenced until today. Someone agree and others disagree with the author’ point. However, if you are interested in today of China, you should reading this book and you will understand a lot of “why now, why China. “.

A brilliant history of the complexities and contradictions at the heart of Chinese culture. It's just as relevant today as it was when it was first published.

Ich habe bereits das chinesische Version gelesen. Die English Version hat mir auch sehr gut gefallen.