The Inner Opium War
Cambridge: The Council on East Asian Studies, Harvard University Press, 1992.
Hardcover. 9 1/4" X 6 1/4". viii, 400pp. Book presents nicely with unclipped dust jacket in protective archival sleeve. Light shelfwear to dust jacket, with rubbing to corners and bumping to head of spine. Bound in black cloth over boards with spine lettered in metallic green. Gentle bumping to head of spine. Binding is firm and sound. Pages are clean and unmarked. A very presentable hardcover in dust jacket of this domestic political study of the Opium War, part of the Harvard East Asian Monographs series.
ABOUT THIS BOOK:
Why did defeat in the Opium War not lead Ch'ing China to a more realistic appreciation of Western might and Chinese weakness? James Polachek's revisionist analysis exposes the behind-the-scenes political struggles that not only shaped foreign-policy decisions in the 1830s and 1840s but have continued to affect the history of Chinese nationalism in modern times.
Polachek looks closely at the networks of literati and officials, self-consciously reminiscent of the late Ming era that sought and gained the ear of the emperor. Challenging the conventional view that Lin Tse-hsu and his supporters were selfless patriots who acted in China's best interests, Polachek agrues that, for reasons having more to do with their own domestic political agenda, these men advocated a futile policy of militant resistance to the West. Linking political intrigue, scholarly debates, and foreign affairs, local notables in Canton and literati lobbyists in Perking this book sets the Opium War for the first times in its "inner," domestic political context. (Publisher). Very Good / Very Good. Item #17558
ISBN: 0674454464
Price: $65.00