Full Product Details
Author: Luke S. K. Kwong
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Imprint: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Dimensions:
Width: 16.20cm
, Height: 2.00cm
, Length: 24.30cm
Weight: 0.399kg
ISBN: 9781538112397
ISBN 10: 1538112396
Pages: 180
Publication Date: 15 June 2018
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Tertiary & Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Manufactured on demand
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.
Reviews
I know of no other work--fictional or otherwise--that captures so vividly and insightfully the motivations and machinations of Chinese elites as they sought to turn the dramatic political, social, and cultural changes of the early twentieth century to their own purposes. Luke Kwong knows this period better than anyone, and he has done a superlative job translating and annotating the novel, making the work not only accessible but also illuminating and absorbing.--Richard J. Smith, George and Nancy Rupp Professor of Humanities emeritus, Rice University What did reform mean at the end of the Qing dynasty? And how could one profit from it? The Phony Reformer is a lively and engaging tale of an intrepid, if sometimes morally dubious, scholar-official and his rise to prominence. How he successfully, fortuitously schemes his way from obscurity to power and profit opens our eyes to the complexity and intrigues of late Qing politics. This translation will be great for undergraduate Chinese history surveys as well as more specialized seminars on late imperial life, the civil service examination system, elite culture, and late imperial and twentieth-century Chinese fiction.--Jia-Chen Fu, Emory University An illuminating satire of bureaucratic 'reformers' on the make in the post-Boxer late-Qing reform era. Serialized in 1905, this short novel chronicles the unlikely career climb of Yuan Bozhen, who time and again manages to make bad decisions and still land on his feet. The novel reads like a tongue-in-cheek 'how-to-succeed' manual for low-level bureaucrats at the turn of the century. It concludes with a poem spelling out the moral of the story, like a big red bow on a box of candy. Luke Kwong's fluid translation is accompanied by an informative introduction and extensive annotations. With realistic ground-level details of officials interacting with each other, with foreigners, and with the Chinese citizenry, the novel makes an ideal supplement to any course on the late Qing or modern China.--Paul Ropp, Clark University
An illuminating satire of bureaucratic 'reformers' on the make in the post-Boxer late-Qing reform era. Serialized in 1905, this short novel chronicles the unlikely career climb of Yuan Bozhen, who time and again manages to make bad decisions and still land on his feet. The novel reads like a tongue-in-cheek 'how-to-succeed' manual for low-level bureaucrats at the turn of the century. It concludes with a humorous poem spelling out the moral of the story, like a big red bow on a box of candy. Luke Kwong's fluid translation is accompanied by an informative introduction and extensive annotations. With realistic ground-level details of officials interacting with each other, with foreigners and with the Chinese citizenry, the novel makes an ideal supplement to any course on the late Qing or modern China.--Paul Ropp, Clark University
An illuminating satire of bureaucratic ‘reformers’ on the make in the post-Boxer late-Qing reform era. Serialized in 1905, this short novel chronicles the unlikely career climb of Yuan Bozhen, who time and again manages to make bad decisions and still land on his feet. The novel reads like a tongue-in-cheek ‘how-to-succeed’ manual for low-level bureaucrats at the turn of the century. It concludes with a poem spelling out the moral of the story, like a big red bow on a box of candy. Luke Kwong’s fluid translation is accompanied by an informative introduction and extensive annotations. With realistic ground-level details of officials interacting with each other, with foreigners, and with the Chinese citizenry, the novel makes an ideal supplement to any course on the late Qing or modern China. -- Paul Ropp, Clark University I know of no other work—fictional or otherwise—that captures so vividly and insightfully the motivations and machinations of Chinese elites as they sought to turn the dramatic political, social, and cultural changes of the early twentieth century to their own purposes. Luke Kwong knows this period better than anyone, and he has done a superlative job translating and annotating the novel, making the work not only accessible but also illuminating and absorbing. -- Richard J. Smith, Rice University What did reform mean at the end of the Qing dynasty? And how could one profit from it? The Phony Reformer is a lively and engaging tale of an intrepid, if sometimes morally dubious, scholar-official and his rise to prominence. How he successfully, fortuitously schemes his way from obscurity to power and profit opens our eyes to the complexity and intrigues of late Qing politics. This translation will be great for undergraduate Chinese history surveys as well as more specialized seminars on late imperial life, the civil service examination system, elite culture, and late imperial and twentieth-century Chinese fiction. -- Jia-Chen Fu, Emory University
Author Information
Luke S. K. Kwong is professor emeritus of history at the University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. His books include A Mosaic of the Hundred Days: Personalities, Politics, and Ideas of 1898 and T’an Ssu-t’ung, 1865–1898: Life and Thought of a Reformer.
