Product Description: For many years, the Ming and Qing dynasties have been grouped as “late imperial China,” a temporal framework that allows scholars to identify and evaluate indigenous patterns of social, economic, and cultural change initiated in the last century of Ming rule that imparted a particular character to state and society throughout the Qing and into the twentieth century...read more

This fascinating book presents eyewitness accounts of a turbulent period in Chinese history: the fall of the Ming dynasty and the conquest of China by the Manchus in the mid-seventeenth century. Lynn A. Struve has translated, introduced, and annotated absorbing testimonies from a wide range of individuals in different social stations -- Chinese and Europeans, missionaries and viceroys, artists and merchants, Ming loyalists and Qing collaborators, maidservants and eunuchs -- all telling stories of hardship and challenge in the midst of cataclysmic change."It is a book that brings history graphically to life". -- Keith Pratt, Asian Affairs"A fascinating view of the dynamics of dynastic change in China". -- Jonathan Porter, History"The book combines skillful translation of a rich variety of primary sources with authoritative commentary and meticulously researched annotation". -- Helen Dunstan, Historian"One of the most engaging works of scholarship to appear in the field for a long time.... An extraordinarily good book destined to be read and enjoyed by a very wide audience beyond the professional one". -- Craig Clunas, Bulletin of SOAS"Throughout the volume, Struve's translations capture the different voices of the cataclysm. Students of Chinese history will find a wealth of information here". -- Choice (view table of contents)