Ability and Difference in Early Modern China

A Mongol Family at the Ming Court

AvDavid Robinson

Häftad, Engelska, 2025

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Beskrivning

In 1405, a family left their home in the Mongolian steppe and moved to China. This daring decision, taken at a time of dramatic change in eastern Eurasia, paved the way for 250 years of unlikely success at the Ming court. Winning recognition for military skill and loyalty, the family later known as the Wu gained a coveted title of nobility and became members of the capital elite until the dynasty's collapse in 1644. By tracing the individual fortunes of a single family, David Robinson offers a fresh and accessible perspective on the inner workings of Ming bureaucracy. He explores how the early-modern world's most developed state sought to balance the often contradictory demands of securing ability and addressing difference, a challenge common to nearly all polities.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2025-09-11
Mått:229 x 151 x 18 mm
Vikt:434 g
Format:Häftad
Språk:Engelska
Antal sidor:298
Förlag:Cambridge University Press
ISBN:9781009602020

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Mer om författaren

David Robinson is Robert H. N. Ho Professor in Asian Studies and Professor of History at Colgate University and author of Korea and the Fall of the Mongol Empire: Alliance, Upheaval, and the Rise of a New East Asian Order (2024).

Recensioner i media

'By untangling the fascinating saga of the Wu family – Mongolian migrants who rose into the Ming elite – David Robinson illuminates the overlooked military aristocracy whose diverse origins and varied skills helped Ming rule to endure for two and a half centuries. An original, carefully-textured portrait of the human face of Chinese statecraft.' Matthew W. Mosca, University of Washington, Seattle

Innehållsförteckning

List of charts; List of maps; Preface; Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; Introduction; 1. An age of decisions; 2. Dying for his lord; 3. The sovereign's man; 4. Educating the entitled; 5. Representing the emperor; 6. Far from home; 7. Patronage, assessment and power; 8. Holding against the storming; 9. Turning every page; 10. Seizing fortune; Conclusion.