THE CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF CHINA VOL 5怎么样

DENIS CRISPIN TWITCHETT; PAUL JAKOV SMITH. The Cambridge History of China. Vol. 5, part 1, The Sung Dynasty and Its Precursors, 907-1279. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009. pp. xxii, 1009. This volume covers the political history of China from the Five Dynasties to the Song Dynasty. It sets up a new established narrative for this period. In each chapter, before the embarkation on the narrative of political events, the author begins with a close examination of historical sources, which helps readers to understand the nature of official and private historical writing under these dynasties, to easily examine the original sources, and accordingly to challenge the authors of this volume with readiness. On the other hand, the authors have not fully realised how important the literati-officials’ failure to appreciate the good side of the treaties the Song struggled really hard to get from its northern barbarians. A deep discussion on this topic set against a longer span of time over a broader regime is much needed. Another frustrating yet intriguing question is: why, under several powerful and strict emperors, there were these strong chief ministers entrusted constantly by their mentors---the emperors, enjoying extraordinarily long tenure in Song? Furthermore, how this trust, trodden by the Mongols, eventually disappeared in Ming court under Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang? We are also expecting the coming of the second part of this volume.