The collapse of the Celestial Empire

This book draws extensively on Qing dynasty memorials from the First Historical Archives of China, documents on Sino-British negotiations in British collections, and collections compiled by Japanese scholars, meticulously examining and reconstructing numerous fundamental historical facts related to the war. The author focuses on a few key figures as the thread that unfolds the narrative, examining everything from weaponry and fortifications to troop training and the application of combat tactics; from logistics, mobilization, and manpower deployment to the sources, collection, and allocation of military funds. Furthermore, it touches on the economic resources available to the warring nations, the mindsets of those responsible for strategic planning, their cultural perspectives on war, and their tactical perspectives on war. These aspects, often overlooked or underrepresented in previous studies of the Opium War, are fully explored in this book.
The Opium War had a profound impact on modern Chinese history, marking the beginning of a century of national humiliation and inflicting immense trauma on the Chinese nation. This book's assessment of the people and events of the time is grounded in factual judgment, particularly through a rigorous examination of the Celestial Empire's mentality as revealed in Qing Dynasty memorials, directly addressing the underlying causes of China's defeat. The book's rigorous argument, its scholarly approach to dispelling past misconceptions, and its strong patriotic resolve to avoid repeating historical errors, are deeply moving and moving.
"The Collapse of the Celestial Empire" has been published for more than ten years and has been widely circulated and has had a great influence. Its academic value has stood the test of time and has been widely recognized and praised by readers. Even overseas, it has become a widely read work among scholars, students of modern history, and the general public, and is regarded as the most representative work in the study of modern Chinese history.
The revised edition has comprehensively corrected errors in notes and quotations, and has been re-formatted and hardcover, and included in the "Sanlian Harvard Academic Series 20th Anniversary Edition" for republication.

2014-10-01

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