The Price of Collapse: The Little Ice Age and the Fall of Ming China
Hardcover
Sports GeneralChinese HistoryEnvironmental Studies
Currently unavailable to order
Please enter your email and a message will be sent to you when this product becomes available on our website.
ISBN13: 9780691250403
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: Nov 21 2023
Pages: 256
Weight: 1.30
Height: 1.20 Width: 6.10 Depth: 9.20
Language: English
How climate change ushered in the collapse of one of history's mighty empires
In 1644, after close to three centuries of relative stability and prosperity, the Ming dynasty collapsed. Many historians attribute its demise to the Manchu invasion of China, but the truth is far more profound. The Price of Collapse provides an entirely new approach to the economic and social history of China, exploring how global climate crisis spelled the end of Ming rule. The mid-seventeenth century witnessed the deadliest phase of the Little Ice Age, when temperatures and rainfall plunged and world economies buckled. Timothy Brook draws on the history of grain prices to paint a gripping portrait of the final tumultuous years of a once-great dynasty. He explores how global trade networks that increasingly moved silver into China may have affected prices and describes the daily struggle to survive amid grain shortages and famine. By the early 1640s, as the subjects of the Ming found themselves caught in a deadly combination of cold and drought that defied all attempts to stave off disaster, the Ming price regime collapsed, and with it the Ming political regime. A masterful work of scholarship, The Price of Collapse reconstructs the experience of ordinary people under the immense pressure of unaffordable prices as their country slid from prosperity to calamity and shows how the market mediated the relationship between an empire and the climate that turned against it.Also from
Brook, Timothy
Praying for Power: Buddhism and the Formation of Gentry Society in Late-Ming China
Brook, Timothy
Hardcover
Also in
Chinese History
Hostage on the Yangtze: Britain, China, and the Amethyst Crisis of 1949
Murfett, Malcolm H.
Hardcover
China Wakes: The Struggle for the Soul of a Rising Power
Wudunn, Sheryl
Kristof, Nicholas D.
Paperback
The Elements of Power: A Story of War, Technology, and the Dirtiest Supply Chain on Earth
Niarchos, Nicolas
Hardcover
The Wall Dancers: Searching for Freedom and Connection on the Chinese Internet
Liu, Yi-Ling
Hardcover
The Next China Is Still China: An Insider's Playbook for Winning in the New Era
Leung, Nick
Ngai, Joe
Hardcover
When America First Met China: An Exotic History of Tea, Drugs, and Money in the Age of Sail
Dolin, Eric Jay
Paperback
The Shortest History of China: From the Ancient Dynasties to a Modern Superpower - A Retelling for Our Times
Jaivin, Linda
Paperback
The Last Kings of Shanghai: The Rival Jewish Dynasties That Helped Create Modern China
Kaufman, Jonathan
Paperback
The Party's Interests Come First: The Life of XI Zhongxun, Father of XI Jinping
Torigian, Joseph
Hardcover
A Brief History of China: Dynasty, Revolution and Transformation: From the Middle Kingdom to the People's Republic
Clements, Jonathan
Paperback
Why Ancient Chinese Political Thought Matters: Four Dialogues on China's Past, Present, and Future
Bell, Daniel a.
Hardcover
Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom: Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom: China, the West, and the Epic Story of the Taiping Civil War
Platt, Stephen R.
Paperback
From Frontier Policy to Foreign Policy: The Question of India and the Transformation of Geopolitics in Qing China
Mosca, Matthew
Paperback
Beyond the Pass: Economy, Ethnicity, and Empire in Qing Central Asia, 1759-1864
Millward, James A.
Paperback
Mao's Great Famine: The History of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958-62
Dikötter, Frank
Paperback
China Whisperers: The Voices That Have Shaped America's Views of Its Chief Geopolitical Rival
Kaplan, Robert D.
Hardcover
The Story of China: The Epic History of a World Power from the Middle Kingdom to Mao and the China Dream
Wood, Michael
Paperback
Kingdom of Characters (Pulitzer Prize Finalist): The Language Revolution That Made China Modern
Tsu, Jing
Paperback
Collected Writings of Chairman Mao: Volume 3 - On Policy, Practice and Contradiction
Zedong, Mao
Tse-Tung, Mao
Paperback
The Man Awakened from Dreams: One Man's Life in a North China Village, 1857-1942
Harrison, Henrietta
Paperback
21 Claves Para Entender China En El Siglo XXI / 21 Keys to Understanding China in the 21st Century
Díaz Marro, Adrián
Paperback
The Struggle for Taiwan: A History of America, China, and the Island Caught Between
Khan, Sulmaan Wasif
Hardcover
Red Star Over the Pacific, Third Edition: China's Rise and the Challenge to U.S. Maritime Strategy
Holmes, James R.
Yoshihara, Toshi
Paperback
Why Taiwan Matters: A Short History of a Small Island That Will Dictate Our Future
Brown, Kerry
Hardcover
Breaking the Chains: Gender, Context, and the Politics of Writing in Modern China
Limin, Dong
Paperback
Foundations of Chinese Civilization: The Yellow Emperor to the Han Dynasty (2697 BCE - 220 CE)
Liu, Jing
Paperback
The Art of Shaolin Kung Fu: The Secrets of Kung Fu for Self-Defense, Health, and Enlightenment
Kit, Wong Kiew
Paperback
Last Boat Out of Shanghai: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Fled Mao's Revolution
Zia, Helen
Paperback
激流者: 陆海空抗战老兵口述历史合集
赖恩典
Paperback
A Dragon's Head and a Serpent's Tail: Ming China and the First Great East Asian War, 1592-1598 Volume 20
Swope, Kenneth M.
Paperback
This World in a Teacup: Credit, Taste, and Power in the U.S.-China Tea Trade, 1784-1911
Du, Dan
Hardcover
The Fox Spirit, the Stone Maiden, and Other Transgender Histories from Late Imperial China
Sommer, Matthew H.
Paperback
Storming the Heavens - Peasants and Revolution in China, 1925-1949 - Viewed through a Marxist Lens
Clegg, Jenny
Paperback
The Art of War for Language Learners: A Bilingual Chinese-English Modern Edition of China's Greatest Classic: Sun Tzu's The Art of War (孙ड
Ling, Ling
Tzu, Sun
Robson, Huw
Paperback
我所认识的顾准(吴敬琏作序)
徐方
Paperback
China's Military Modernization: Assessing China's Weapons and Strategic Reach in the Early 21st Century
Boufesis, Alexandros
Paperback
A Geek in China: Discovering the Land of Bullet Trains, Alibaba and Dim Sum
Christensen, Matthew B.
Paperback
The Scythian Empire: Central Eurasia and the Birth of the Classical Age from Persia to China
Beckwith, Christopher I.
Paperback
The Transpacific Chinese Diaspora: Migration Networks from China to Canada and Beyond, 1788-1898
Chen, Zhongping
Hardcover
The Man Who Loved China: The Fantastic Story of the Eccentric Scientist Who Unlocked the Mysteries of the Middle Kingdom
Winchester, Simon
Paperback
Everything Under the Heavens: How the Past Helps Shape China's Push for Global Power
French, Howard W.
Paperback
The Milk Tea Alliance: Inside Asia's Struggle Against Autocracy and Beijing
Wasserstrom, Jeffrey
Paperback
心路: 平凡不平淡的人生
林慕荆
Paperback
顶残: 中国市场和产权的构造及逻辑
吴思
Paperback
