Untitled Essay, Research Paper

Emperor K? ang-hsi ruled China from 1661 to 1722 and his reign is captured by Jonathan D. Spence? s book Emperor of China. The different chapters of the book trade with certain facets of the Emperors life. Aspects that the history books to usually cover with. The information in Spence? s book is based on Emperor K? ang-hsi? s correspondence, his ain Hagiographas. This composing possibly biased towards himself, but no other piece of information could supply insight into his head. The book is divided into six parts ; In gesture, Ruling, Thinking, Turning Old, Sons, Valedictory. The book follows Emperor K? ang-hsi? s life as Emperor in chronological order. In the first portion, ? In Motion, & # 8221 ; the chief accent was on Emperor K? ang-hsi travels though his land. He wrote a missive to Ku Wen-hsing stating that he had traveled 1000? s of stat mis in each way. He had traveled to the states of Shansi and Shensi in the West, to the states of Manchuria and Ula in the E, north across the Gobi to the Kerulean River and south to the Yangtze River. On his travels, Emperor K? ang-hsi, liked to roll up and compare different plats, animate beings, birds that he came across. He loved to run with bows and guns during his travels. Emperor K? ang-hsi hunting patterns were non merely meant for joy and exercising, it was besides an exercising in military readiness. He took 1000s of his military personnels on many of his trips to develop them in hiting, camp life, and formation equitation. The 2nd portion of the book accent on the historiographically portion of the emperors regulation. The writers & # 8217 ; facts were based on the 1000s of imperial paperss that came from the emperor. The writer was able to patch together the sort to authorities that existed. The cardinal bureaucratism of emperor K? ang-hsi? s 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 states were divided into six state blocks, controlled by s governor-general. Each state was divided into prefectures and each prefecture was subdivided into counties controlled by a magistrate. Governing to Emperor K? ang-hsi meant he had compete control for his economical and educational construction. He besides felt that he was responsible for the life and decease of topics. The 3rd portion of the book is? Thinking, ? that trades with Emperor K? ang-hsi position on his life and of his topics. Emperor K? ang-hsi believed in Neo- Confucianism and frequently refereed to it as the Confucian Classic. In different parts of the Emperors life he was interested in geometry, uranology, mapmaking, medical specialty, and math. He took advantage in the free clip a swayer has to spread out his head. The subdivision? Turning Old? showed that Emperor K? ang-hsi recognized that Thursday

e 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. K?ang-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 K?ang-hsi was a highly specialized practice. He had large groups of men for diagnosis and treatment. In the end, K?ang-hsi knew that death was enviable, but he tried to live forever though his children. K?ang-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, K?ang-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 ?Sons.? Thirty years after Emperor K?ang-hsi was helped into power by his uncle Songgotu, he had Sonnggotu executed. Shortly after Sonnggotu was killed, Emperor K?ang-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 K?ang-hsi was very protective of his sons. When he suspected that his son Yin-jeng has indulging in homosexual activities, K?ang-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. Spence?s book goes into greater detail about Emperor K?ang-hsi life then any history book could have. Spence is able to do this by emphasizing on K?ang-hsi?s writings, and not on other sources. The book was divided into six sections that described different aspects of the K?ang-hsi life and times. The most interesting chapter in my option was the chapter ?Sons.? In this chapter Spence describes the Emperor?s protective nature towards his sons. He went to great lengths to protect his sons and their heir to the kingdom. Spence?s 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 K?ang-hsi made during his reign. In the end Spence did achieve his goal of gaining new insights into Emperor K?ang-hsi and wrote a good history of the Emperors life.