歷史名著，從高中時期就想看，大學時期就買了放，然後....現在才真的看完。（感謝明朝那些事兒太精采了推了我一把。）他要推廣的論點就是最後一章的倒數第二段：萬曆十五年「表面上似乎是四海昇平，無事可記，實際上我們的大明帝國卻已經走到了它發展的盡頭。在這個時候，皇帝的勵精圖治或者晏安耽樂，首輔的獨裁或者調和，高級將領的富於創造或者習於苟安，文官的廉潔奉公或者貪污舞弊，思想家的極端進步或者絕對保守，最後的結果，都是無分善惡，統統不能在事實上取得有意義的發展。」他寫萬曆皇帝、首輔申時行、高級將領戚繼光、文官海瑞、思想家李贄，表面上是在寫他們的生平，其實是藉著他們的生平在佐證他這個論點。更具體的說，他認為這些人之所以不管做什麼都無法取得有意義的發展，是因為以道德為圭臬的的中央集權式文官集團，不可能對國家進行有效的管理。他在 1982寫成的後記裡，對現代中國的態度樂觀得多，因為中國已經可以「在數目字上管理」了（他的中文我覺得有點拗口.....）。他在後記裡還有一段提到一國兩制（喔耶我趕上了最近熱門議題），「一國兩制的精神需要彼此將眼光看遠，在長久的歷史中，找到合作的邏輯，而且今後也只有使兩方更為接近，不致越來越遠」。 ( )

This book examines the lives of several high ranking men to illustrate the ways in which the traditional government of Ming China was inflexible and unable to meet the needs of the nation. Far from a imperious ruler, the emperor himself was a prisoner of the bureaucrats, able only to fulfill or to ignore the prescribed routine of court appearances and ceremony. Corruption was encouraged by inadequate salaries for the thousands of civil officials, generals had no established armies and trade with the outside world was actively discouraged as a source of disorder. Yer the year chosen to illustrate this state of affairs does not offer examples of great disasters such as famine, flood or military defeat; just the slow decline in the system. Quite interesting although sometimes hard to keep track of names and titles and the jumping back and forth in time.

This is a book for a specialist. The author assumes a fair amount of knowledge from the reader, from the Four Books to yin and yang. Also the syntax of the writing is a bit unusual. I believe that the book was written in chinese and translated directly into english. The author repeatedly refers to 'our empire' which is not an english usage.

The author's thesis that the emperor's refusal to participate in public ceremonies accelerated the end of the dynasty seems a little shaky to me. Much more likely to my mind is that the structure of the bureaucracy and it's neo-confucian ideals proscribed progress and modernism seem much more likely to me.

I do not rate the book highly. I feel that it was hastily translated and meant for a small, select audience, specialists as I said. It is not for a general readership.

On first reading this, I found myself accepting what I believe is the author's thesis, that large historical trends are more important than individuals, but on rexconsideration I feel the emperor's decision to, in effect, go on strike because his officials refused to accept his choice of consort actually had a significant negative impact on the future of the Ming ( )

5 ( )