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The Unfortunate Emperor: Emperor Xianfeng Yizhu Author: Mao Haijian Publisher: Sanlian Bookstore
The Unfortunate Emperor: Emperor Xianfeng Yizhu Author: Mao Haijian Publisher: Sanlian Bookstore
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Description
Introduction · · · · · ·
The book is written by Professor Mao Haijian, the author of The Collapse of the Celestial Empire. Generally speaking, this book can be classified with Huang Renyu's The Fifteenth Year of the Wanli Reign, which is a popular work with guaranteed academic quality. The content involves important historical events such as the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Hunan Army, Lijin, and the Second Opium War. The author transforms the major historical facts that have been carefully verified into detailed descriptions of important scenes. Although it is a biography of Emperor Xianfeng, he strives to focus on the people who have the closest relationship with Emperor Xianfeng or have the greatest influence on the politics of the Xianfeng Dynasty: Du Shoutian, Mu Zhang'a, Hong Xiuquan, Zeng Guofan, Senggelinqin, Prince Gong, Sushun, and Empress Dowager Cixi, thereby giving a glimpse into Emperor Xianfeng's reaction and reflecting his inner world.
Huang Renyu said that the approach of "The 15th Year of Wanli" is "the narrative may be detailed, but the conclusion should focus on the distant future rather than the near future." In the author's writing, the success or failure of Emperor Xianfeng alone was not enough to change the direction of history. With the help of carefully selected materials, this book retells this period of history.
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During the 11 years of Emperor Xianfeng's reign, the Qing Dynasty suffered a crushing defeat in civil and foreign wars, but it also began to establish new connections with the world, and many events had a profound impact on modern China.
The author of this book does not stick to traditional historical narratives, but instead takes readers directly into the complex and difficult situation of the time, so as to understand the deep reasons why the country was forced to lose its sovereignty and humiliate itself in that era.
In addition, the book also provides detailed descriptions of important figures of the Xianfeng Dynasty, such as Du Shoutian, Zeng Guofan, Ye Mingchen, Sushun, Prince Gong, and Nara (Cixi).
The reign of Emperor Xianfeng, 1850-1861, was a major turning point in Chinese history. The author uses a very delicate writing style to closely reproduce the tragic life of Emperor Xianfeng Yizhu.
About the Author
Mao Haijian is a scholar of modern Chinese history. He is a distinguished professor of the Department of History at the University of Macau and the Department of History at East China Normal University. He was a researcher at the Institute of Modern History of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and a professor at the Department of History at Peking University. He has been engaged in teaching and research on modern Chinese history for many years. His main research areas are the history of the Two Opium Wars and the Reform Movement of 1898. He has written several books on the research of the Reform Movement of 1898, including The Collapse of the Celestial Empire: A Re-study of the Opium Wars, The Scale of Modern Times: Military and Diplomacy in the Two Opium Wars, and the Reform Movement of 1898.
