Does anyone know any really good Qing books?

I wanted to enhance my knowledge of the Qing Dynasty, and I looked up some books, but I wanted to make sure I got the best possible Book about the Qing history from 1644, to 1911.

I know AH.com might not be the most appropriate place, considering people know a good amount of Qing history here, I was wondering if they had any book recommendations for me to further my knowledge on the Qing, so if you think I should delete the thread, just tell me.
 
Fortunately, there's actually been massive growth in English-language scholarship in Qing history in recent years, largely due to the emergence of the "New Qing history" school, which tends to characterise the Qing not as a typical "conquest dynasty" like the Jin or Yuan, nor as a completely sinicised dynasty, but rather as a semi-universalist dynasty which utilised heterogenous strategies of governance relevant to different contexts.

General or 'large theme' books:

- The Last Emperors: A Social History of Qing Imperial Institutions (Professor Evelyn Sakakida Rawski: University of California Press)
- China's Last Empire: The Great Qing (William T. Rowe: Harvard University Press)
- The Manchu Way: The Eight Banners and Ethnic Identity in Late Imperial China (Mark C. Elliot: Stanford University Press)
- A Translucent Mirror: History and Identity in Qing Imperial Ideology (Pamela Kyle Crossley: University of California Press)
- Manchus and Han: Ethnic Relations and Political Power in Late Qing and Early Republican China, 1861-1928 (Edward J.M. Rhoads: University of Washington Press)

Niche/specific topics:

- China Marches West: The Qing Conquest of Central Eurasia (Peter C. Perdue: Harvard University Press)
- The Emperor's New Mathematics: Western Learning and Imperial Authority During the Kangxi Reign (Catherine Jami: Oxford University Press)
- The Qing Opening to the Ocean: Chinese Maritime Policies, 1684-1757 (Gang Zhao: University of Hawai'i Press)
- Ginseng and Borderland: Territorial Boundaries and Political Relations between Qing China and Choson Korea, 1636-1912 (Seonmin Kim: University of California Press)
- The Sichuan Frontier and Tibet: Imperial Strategy in the Early Qing (Yingcong Dai: University of Washington Press)
- God's Chinese Son: The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom of Hong Xiuquan (Jonathan D. Spence: WW Norton and Co.)
- Beyond the Pass: Economy, Ethnicity and Empire in Qing Central Asia, 1759-1864 (James A. Milward: Stanford University Press)
- White Lotus Rebels and South China Pirates: Crisis and Reform in the Qing Empire (Wensheng Wang: Harvard University Press)
- Empire at the Margins: Culture, Ethnicity, and Frontier in Early Modern China (Pamela Kyle Crossley: University of California Press)
- Our Great Qing: The Mongols, Buddhism and the State in Late Imperial China (Johan Elverskog: University of Hawai'i Press)
 
Fortunately, there's actually been massive growth in English-language scholarship in Qing history in recent years, largely due to the emergence of the "New Qing history" school, which tends to characterise the Qing not as a typical "conquest dynasty" like the Jin or Yuan, nor as a completely sinicised dynasty, but rather as a semi-universalist dynasty which utilised heterogenous strategies of governance relevant to different contexts.

General or 'large theme' books:

- The Last Emperors: A Social History of Qing Imperial Institutions (Professor Evelyn Sakakida Rawski: University of California Press)
- China's Last Empire: The Great Qing (William T. Rowe: Harvard University Press)
- The Manchu Way: The Eight Banners and Ethnic Identity in Late Imperial China (Mark C. Elliot: Stanford University Press)
- A Translucent Mirror: History and Identity in Qing Imperial Ideology (Pamela Kyle Crossley: University of California Press)
- Manchus and Han: Ethnic Relations and Political Power in Late Qing and Early Republican China, 1861-1928 (Edward J.M. Rhoads: University of Washington Press)

Niche/specific topics:

- China Marches West: The Qing Conquest of Central Eurasia (Peter C. Perdue: Harvard University Press)
- The Emperor's New Mathematics: Western Learning and Imperial Authority During the Kangxi Reign (Catherine Jami: Oxford University Press)
- The Qing Opening to the Ocean: Chinese Maritime Policies, 1684-1757 (Gang Zhao: University of Hawai'i Press)
- Ginseng and Borderland: Territorial Boundaries and Political Relations between Qing China and Choson Korea, 1636-1912 (Seonmin Kim: University of California Press)
- The Sichuan Frontier and Tibet: Imperial Strategy in the Early Qing (Yingcong Dai: University of Washington Press)
- God's Chinese Son: The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom of Hong Xiuquan (Jonathan D. Spence: WW Norton and Co.)
- Beyond the Pass: Economy, Ethnicity and Empire in Qing Central Asia, 1759-1864 (James A. Milward: Stanford University Press)
- White Lotus Rebels and South China Pirates: Crisis and Reform in the Qing Empire (Wensheng Wang: Harvard University Press)
- Empire at the Margins: Culture, Ethnicity, and Frontier in Early Modern China (Pamela Kyle Crossley: University of California Press)
- Our Great Qing: The Mongols, Buddhism and the State in Late Imperial China (Johan Elverskog: University of Hawai'i Press)

My dude, thank you so much!

Have you read all of these?
 
Which book would you recommend the most for general Qing history or a summary of Qing history from it's creation to its end?

And I was also especially interested in four topics to read, that being the Taiping rebellion, the rule of the Qianlong Emperor, the self-strengthening movement, and especially the Expansion of the Qing into Central Asia, mainly the Dzungars, and the Qing rule in Xinjiang.

But this already helps me a lot thank you!
 
Which book would you recommend the most for general Qing history or a summary of Qing history from it's creation to its end?

And I was also especially interested in four topics to read, that being the Taiping rebellion, the rule of the Qianlong Emperor, the self-strengthening movement, and especially the Expansion of the Qing into Central Asia, mainly the Dzungars, and the Qing rule in Xinjiang.

Whilst God's Chinese Son, mentioned above, is basically the Taiping Rebellion book, there's also Stephen Platt's Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom. That focuses largely on the last few years of the Rebellion- mainly focused on after Hong Rengan made it to Nanking in 1859-ish. This is probably complementary to God's Chinese Son, which IIRC is very detailed on the early stages of the movement.

There's also Thomas Reilly's The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom: Rebellion and the Blasphemy of Empire, which I haven't read but as far as I can understand it focuses on the Taiping ideology.
 
"What Remains: Coming to Terms with Civil War in 19th Century China" by Tobie Meyer-Fong is a book about the social consequences and the perspectives of the people during the Taiping rebellion, I recommend that even if the writing can be a bit... taxing to read.
 
For fictional books written in and about Qing China during Qing rule, in order to get a feel for its people and its human struggles and ideas:

-Dream of the Red Chamber

-Nie Hai Hua (this one is especially good for changing social attitudes under Qing rule)

-The Scholars (this one says its about the Ming dynasty, but actually quite accurately describes scholarly life in the early Qing)
 
Never read it (only partially read most of the ones I suggested before), but the author of this is the author of The Manchu Way, so it's probably a pretty good read. It will definitely be pretty accurate.

Good, because I saw a lot of positive reviews of it, and I already bought it. I mainly hope it focuses a lot on the military campaigns of the Qianlong emperor instead of just the arts, or the concubines.
 
Never read it (only partially read most of the ones I suggested before), but the author of this is the author of The Manchu Way, so it's probably a pretty good read. It will definitely be pretty accurate.

Also, are there any books on the post-Taiping, and Second Opium Wars books, mainly the Self Strengthening movement, Hundred days of reform, and Sino-Japanese war? Or anything on the final years of the Qing, from the Boxer rebellion to its overthrow in 1911?
 
Also, are there any books on the post-Taiping, and Second Opium Wars books, mainly the Self Strengthening movement, Hundred days of reform, and Sino-Japanese war? Or anything on the final years of the Qing, from the Boxer rebellion to its overthrow in 1911?

I am quite a bit weaker on late Qing history compared to early, but there's these:

Self-strengthening movement: I don't know much about it, to be honest, and there's not a lot dedicated to just the movement, but it might be worth a look at John King Fairbank's Trade and Diplomacy on the China Coast: The Opening of the Treaty Ports, 1842-1854. It's old, having been published in 1953, but Fairbank is pretty much the late imperial China guy.

Boxer Rebellion: History in Three Keys: The Boxers as Event, Experience and Myth (Columbia University Press) by Paul A. Cohen.
 
I am quite a bit weaker on late Qing history compared to early, but there's these:

Self-strengthening movement: I don't know much about it, to be honest, and there's not a lot dedicated to just the movement, but it might be worth a look at John King Fairbank's Trade and Diplomacy on the China Coast: The Opening of the Treaty Ports, 1842-1854. It's old, having been published in 1953, but Fairbank is pretty much the late imperial China guy.

Boxer Rebellion: History in Three Keys: The Boxers as Event, Experience and Myth (Columbia University Press) by Paul A. Cohen.

Yeah, I expected not many books would be about the Self Strengthening Movement, but these really help alot. Do you think I should learn a bit of early Qing history? Like the 1600s Qing history? Because I'm more interested in late Qing history.

And I know you'd already done alot of help for me, but is there any books on the Xinhai Revolution/final years of the Qing Dynasty?

I think this guy https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTv0j__BgZn4z0dhBzZ8xYw is pretty good with Qing history, and I learned alot from him, but I haven't watched all of his videos yet.
 
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