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- Emperor KÆang-hsi ruled China from 1661 to 1722 and his reign is captured by
- Jonathan D. SpenceÆs book Emperor of China. The different chapters of the book deal
- with certain aspects of the Emperors life. Aspects that the history books to normally deal
- with. The information in SpenceÆs book is based on Emperor KÆang-hsiÆs
- correspondence, his own writings. This writing maybe biased towards himself, but no
- other piece of information could provide insight into his mind. The book is divided into
- six parts; In motion, Ruling, Thinking, Growing Old, Sons, Valedictory. The book
- follows Emperor KÆang-hsiÆs life as Emperor in chronological order.
- In the first part, ôIn Motion," the main emphasis was on Emperor KÆang-hsi travels
- though his kingdom. He wrote a letter to Ku Wen-hsing stating that he had traveled
- 1000Æs of miles in each direction. He had traveled to the provinces of Shansi and Shensi in
- the west, to the provinces of Manchuria and Ula in the east, north across the Gobi to the
- Kerulean River and south to the Yangtze River. On his travels, Emperor KÆang-hsi, liked
- to collect and compare different plats, animals, birds that he came across. He loved to
- hunt with bows and guns during his travels. Emperor KÆang-hsi hunting practices were
- not just meant for joy and exercise, it was also an exercise in military preparedness. He
- took thousands of his troops on many of his trips to train them in shooting, camp life, and
- formation riding.
- The second part of the book emphasis on the historiographically part of the
- emperors rule. The authors' facts were based on the thousands of imperial documents that
- came from the emperor. The author was able to piece together the kind to government
- that existed. The central bureaucracy of emperor KÆang-hsiÆs China was composed of a
- metropolitan division and a provincial division. The metropolitan division was supervised
- by four to six Grand Secretaries and were directed by the presidents and vice-presidents of
- the Six Boards. The provinces were divided into six province blocks, controlled by s
- governor-general. Each province was divided into prefectures and each prefecture was
- subdivided into counties controlled by a magistrate. Ruling to Emperor KÆang-hsi meant
- he had compete control for his economical and educational structure. He also felt that he
- was responsible for the life and death of subjects.
- The third part of the book is ôThinking,ö that deals with Emperor KÆang-hsi
- perspective on his life and of his subjects. Emperor KÆang-hsi believed in Neo-
- Confucianism and often refereed to it as the Confucian Classic. In different parts of the
- Emperors life he was interested in geometry, astronomy, cartography, medicine, and math.
- He took advantage in the free time a ruler has to expand his mind.
- The section ôGrowing Oldö showed that Emperor KÆang-hsi recognized that the
- human body was fallible. He tried to prolong his life with an awareness into his diet,
- medicine and memory. He tried to obtain public sympathy with his openness towards his
- health, thus gaining the there trust and support in hard times. KÆang-hsi recognized that
- admission to his physical weakness was the ultimate honestly but preventing physical
- weakness was the ultimate common sense. Practicing medicine under Emperor KÆang-hsi
- was a highly specialized practice. He had large groups of men for diagnosis and
- treatment. In the end, KÆang-hsi knew that death was enviable, but he tried to live forever
- though his children. KÆang-hsi had fifty-six children in his life time, but only one was born
- to his first wife. This son was to be raised as the heir to the throne, he received the most
- care and love that the Emperor could give.
- From an early age, KÆang-hsi eldest son knew he would inherit the throne. Many
- officials also knew that the son would inherit the throne and thus tried to gain favors with
- the son. Different officials also tried to jockey for position with the government.
- Emperor did not look kindly towards this. This political theme is the basis for the chapter
- named ôSons.ö Thirty years after Emperor KÆang-hsi was helped into power by his uncle
- Songgotu, he had Sonnggotu executed. Shortly after Sonnggotu was killed, Emperor
- KÆang-hsi had his sons killed also. In 1712 the garrison commander of Peking was put to
- death in fear of the commander gaining to much power. Emperor KÆang-hsi was very
- protective of his sons. When he suspected that his son Yin-jeng has indulging in
- homosexual activities, KÆang-hsi had three cooks and the serving boys put to death. He
- suspected that the cooks and servers were engaging in homosexual activities with his son.
- In conclusion, the book achieves in its purpose, to give new insights into the
- Emperors life. SpenceÆs book goes into greater detail about Emperor KÆang-hsi life then
- any history book could have. Spence is able to do this by emphasizing on KÆang-hsiÆs
- writings, and not on other sources. The book was divided into six sections that described
- different aspects of the KÆang-hsi life and times. The most interesting chapter in my
- option was the chapter ôSons.ö In this chapter Spence describes the EmperorÆs protective
- nature towards his sons. He went to great lengths to protect his sons and their heir to the
- kingdom. SpenceÆs summary of the data he collected was a little too short. Spence did
- not go into great detail over many facts. In addition, Spence did not address issues
- outside China that effected it. By this time in history, China had foreign intervention and
- influence. Yet Spence did not address the issue of foreign policies that KÆang-hsi made
- during his reign. In the end Spence did achieve his goal of gaining new insights into
- Emperor KÆang-hsi and wrote a good history of the Emperors life.
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