Comments on: Self-introduction

By: Amanda Shuman

Amanda Shuman — Sun, 08 Jan 2006 04:26:59 +0000

I read this book when auditing an undergraduate course in modern Chinese history. Indeed, it was a smart choice on behalf of the professor. (By the way, he handed out a page long reading guide for the students to use as they went along). The book engaged many of the students primarily for two reasons: it was short and written remarkably well. Harrison’s leaves out much of the scholarly jargon used in some of the graduate class books I’ve recently finished. Without naming anyone in particular, I do think some scholars should consider writing well rather than writing more…

I also think Harrison’s book portrayed the transition between High Qing and Modern China very well. Liu Dapeng’s struggle as a literati and his (and his family’s) social downfall clearly show how much had happened in such a short period of time, how modern ideas and culture permeated Liu Dapeng’s life by the end.

By: Matt Mei

Matt Mei — Tue, 18 Oct 2005 17:26:49 +0000

Hey Matt, remember me from Manchu class? I browse the Asian blogosphere from time to time. Good luck with your adventures.

By: K. M. Lawson

K. M. Lawson — Sun, 17 Jul 2005 14:39:01 +0000

Hehe, well, I do hope we’ll get a chance to meet in the coming year or two!

By: Jonathan Dresner

Jonathan Dresner — Sun, 17 Jul 2005 08:32:09 +0000

Matt, welcome. I’ll have to look for the book: it sounds like a wonderful candidate for my 20th century China course, or perhaps for the end of the 19th century one.

Konrad: for two people who’ve never met, we know an awful lot of the same people…

By: K. M. Lawson

K. M. Lawson — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 02:38:37 +0000

Matt! Great to have you join us, and I look forward to your postings on Qing history and developments in the study of the period.

Thanks for the recommendation and I certainly join you in singing its praises. Harrison’s book is wonderful and as you note, covers the tumultous transition between Qing and the Republic. As you may know, I took her class this past semester on reading 20th century Chinese historical documents and had a chance to look through “The Man Awakened from Dreams” then since we were assigned to read a passage from his diaries. I’m very much impressed at the sheer diversity of approaches and topics she has taken in her various writings (many, like this one, which focus geographically on 山西) and her careful use of materials to build fascinating stories or arguments out of incidents and personages. Very inspiring for us as students.

My favorite passage in “The Man Awakened from Dreams” is when she discusses how Liu Dapeng, bewildered at the changing times reacts to modern things in often very distinctly “Qing” or at least Qing scholarly ways. If I remember correctly (I don’t have the book with me here in Korea) she notes, for example, how Liu shows due reverence for the value of any paper with writing on it. This has humorous consequences in his later years, when we find him picking up random pieces of advertisement or cigarrete packaging he finds on the ground with text written on it.