Learning to Rule - (Studies of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia Un) by Daniel Barish

About the Book

Daniel Barish explores debates surrounding the education of the final three Qing emperors, showing how imperial curricula became proxy battles for divergent visions of how to restabilize the country. Through the lens of the education of young emperors, Learning to Rule develops a new understanding of the late Qing era.

Book Synopsis

In the second half of the nineteenth century, local leaders around the Qing empire attempted to rebuild in the aftermath of domestic rebellion and imperialist aggression. At the same time, the enthronement of a series of children brought the question of reconstruction into the heart of the capital. Chinese scholars, Manchu and Mongolian officials, and writers in the press all competed to have their ideas included in the education of young rulers. Each group hoped to use the power of the emperor--both his functional role within the bureaucracy and his symbolic role as an exemplar for the people--to promote reform.

Daniel Barish explores debates surrounding the education of the final three Qing emperors, showing how imperial curricula became proxy battles for divergent visions of how to restabilize the country. He sheds light on the efforts of rival figures, who drew on China's dynastic history, Manchu traditions, and the statecraft tools of imperial powers as they sought to remake the state. Barish traces how court education reflected arguments over the introduction of Western learning, the fate of the Manchu Way, the place of women in society, notions of constitutionalism, and emergent conceptions of national identity. He emphasizes how changing ideas of education intersected with a push for a renewed imperial center and national unity, helping create a model of rulership for postimperial regimes. Through the lens of the education of young emperors, Learning to Rule develops a new understanding of the late Qing era and the relationship between the monarchy and the nation in modern China.

Review Quotes

It is a classic problem in Qing history: How in the aftermath of the profound devastation of the Taiping War did the Qing empire not only survive but initiate a degree of reform and transformation? Daniel Barish suggests an intriguing explanation: The education of the Xianfeng emperor and his successors provided an effective synthesis of traditional ethics and novel, reformist political theories (particularly relating to constitutional monarchy), undergirded by new media of print and photography, could have allowed the emperors to become modernizing public figures. It suggests a comparative context encompassing other reforming monarchies in a global "late imperial" era. The emperors and their courts could not sustain the dynasty beyond 1912, but the ruler as a public presence as shaped in these last Qing decades continued as a subliminal model for post-imperial leaders from Sun Yatsen to Mao. In this way, the author demonstrates the far-reaching impact of the late nineteenth-century Qing emperors on ruling style and presentation in 20th century China.--Pamela Kyle Crossley, author of Orphan Warriors: Three Manchu Generations and the End of the Qing World, and The Wobbling Pivot, China since 1800

About the Author

Daniel Barish is assistant professor of history at Baylor University.