History and biography in modern China

This thesis is a study of history and biography in modern China. It is historiographical in focus, examining one way in which the writing of history has changed during the course of the twentieth century. As a biographical perspective was central to traditional Chinese historical writing, such a study of the relationship of biography and history can help reveal what it is that distinguishes modern historical writing from the tradition out of which it has emerged. The first chapter looks at the origins of biographical writing in China, the traditional relationship between biography and history, and the dominance of a biographical perspective on the past. Chapter Two provides an assessment of how that traditional relationship between history and biography changed during the early twentieth century, the transition from the traditional practice of biographical history to the writing of modern historical biographies. Chapter Three then looks in detail at the work of Zhu Dongrun, at his views on what modern biography should be and at his biography of the late Ming scholar and statesman Zhang Juzheng. In Chapter Four the focus shifts to a consideration of the re-evaluation of biography and of the role of the individual in history during the early years of the People's Republic. Chapter Five is devoted to the historical and biographical writing of Wu Han, and, in particular, to the way political changes influenced his biography of the first Ming emperor Zhu Yuanzhang. Finally, in the Epilogue, brief consideration is given to the revival of biographical writing during the 1980s. By exploring the evolving relationship between history and biography, it is hoped that this thesis will contribute to an appreciation of how modem Chinese have reshaped their past in order to give it new significance

Silver, state and society : A monetary perspective on China's seventeenth century crisis

This thesis is an investigation of the extent and importance of China's dependence upon imported silver in the years leading up to the fall of the Ming dynasty in 1644. The commercial expansion and fiscal reforms of the late Ming years had resulted in an increased demand for silver, yet very little of the metal was mined domestically and China relied on foreign sources to supply the increasing demand. It is this dependence upon foreign sources of supply, at a time when the demand for monetary media was continually increasing, which has led to the suggestion that the collapse of the Ming dynasty may have been a consequence, at least in part, of a decline in the volume of imported silver. The thesis gives a detailed consideration of this hypothesis. It also examines the suggestion that the changing pattern of money-use within the empire, the increasing use of silver, was associated with the rise of new social tensions, and that together these undermined the stability of the Ming administration. The evidence accumulated from the perusal of this monetary perspective will be balanced against what is known of the turmoil of these late Ming years so as to broaden an understanding of the crisis of state and society in the seventeenth century China