Description
Book SynopsisThis book shows how, though Suzhou entered the Ming defeated and suspect, interactions between the imperial state and local elites gave rise to a network of markets, centered on Suzhou, that fostered high-quality local specialization.
Trade Review"...in contributing to the growing body of local history in the study of premodern China, Marmé has made an important and valuable contribution....this is significant book that deserves attention." --
Journal of Asian Studies"There is something for everybody in this provocative and challenging book... Marmé's Ming-focused
Suzhou presents a history of contingency and paradox. In so doing, it brings into view a previously obscured and woefully misunderstood century and a half of urban change." --
China Review International"...anyone seriously interested in the history of late imperial China or the comparative global analysis of urban civilization will welcome this nuanced, wide-ranging study." --
ChoiceTable of ContentsTable of Contents for Suzhou Acknowledgments Conventions Introduction 1. Heaven in a Very Small Space: Suzhou and Its Hinterland in the Ming 2. "A Great Deal of Extravagance and a Modicum of Frugality": Suzhou to 1367 3. A Conquered Province: Suzhou under Hongwu 4. Co-option and Near Collapse--Suzhou, 1398-1430 5. Reform, 1430-1484: Suzhou from Zhou Chen to Wang Shu 6. "Like Another Place": Economy and Society in Fifteenth-Century Suzhou 7. "Those Occupying Places above the Common People": Suzhou's elite and the Rise of Wu School Culture 8. "Neglecting the Roots, Pursuing the Branches": Suzhou, 1506-1550 Epilogue: "Actually Full of Want and Distress"? Suzhou from the Wokou Crisis to the Fall of the Ming Conclusion Appendix A: Population Appendix B: Examination Graduates Abbreviations Notes Bibliography Glossary Index
