China's Cultural Heritage: The Qing Dynasty 1644-1912

About this book

The Qing Dynasty (16441912)a crucial bridge between traditional and modern Chinawas a period remarkable for its expansiveness and cultural sophistication. In this extensively revised and expanded edition of his highly regarded book Richard J. Smith shows how the Chinese of the Qing Dynasty viewed the world; how their outlook was expressed in their institutions material culture and customs; and how Chinas preoccupation with order unity and harmony contributed to the remarkable cohesiveness and continuity of traditional Chinese civilization. In addition to offering a new and challenging interpretation of Chinese culture as a whole he provides a fresh perspective on a wide variety of topics from gender issues philosophy religion and mythology to language aesthetics and symbolism. He also examines a number of important but too-often neglected aspects of traditional Chinese daily life including divination food music sexual practices festivals child-rearing and games.Based on the authors careful rethinking of certain themes and arguments presented in the first edition this revised version of Chinas Cultural Heritage also draws heavily upon the enormous body of new scholarship on Chinese history and culture that has appeared in the last decade. Although focused primarily on the Qing Dynasty the book not only sheds valuable light on the distant past but it helps us to understand Chinas contemporary problems of modernization. A concluding chapter systematically explores the legacy of traditional Chinese culture to the twentieth century.