State versus Gentry in Late Ming Dynasty China, 1572-1644

This book looks at the bitter factionalism that plagued the last days of China’s Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) as an ideological struggle between those scholar-officials who believed that sovereignty resided in the imperial state and those who believed that it resided with the learned gentry. This dichotomy provides a clear elucidation of late-Ming factional strife, which necessarily appears very chaotic and has been described very imperfectly in recent histories. It therefore contributes greatly to our understanding of the fall of the Ming, and sheds light on statecraft in other cultures where sovereignty is an issue.