Chang Woei Ong: Men of Letters within the Passes: Guanzhong Literati in Chinese History, 907–1911. (Harvard East Asian Monographs.) xiv, 262 pp. Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Asia Center, 2008. £25.95. ISBN 978 0 674 03170 8.

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Ong's work is predominantly an intellectual history, centred on the teachings of the eleventh-century Daoxue figure Zhang Zai, whom Feng Congwu enshrined as founder of the Guanxue school in the late Ming.

“Ong's study is by and large an intellectual history, focusing on the teachings of Zhang Zai, the famous eleventh-century Daoxue scholar who was enshrined as the founder of the Guanxue school by Feng Congwu in the final decades of the Ming dynasty.”

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The book is also partly a social history of the literati, offering numerous case studies of individual shi and their families.

“To some extent it is also a social history of the literati, providing many case studies of individual shi and their families.”

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Guanzhong, formerly the imperial centre, was economically and culturally marginalized by the close of the imperial era.

“By the end of the imperial period, Guanzhong, once the centre of the Chinese empire, had become economically and culturally marginalized.”

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Ong's book exemplifies the 'localist turn' in late imperial Chinese history, a concept associated with Peter Bol.

“Ong's study is representative of what Peter Bol has termed the “localist turn” in late imperial Chinese history.”

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Given Wang Anshi's statist New Policies, this development can be interpreted as resistance to over-centralization and a claim that local society could manage its own affairs.

“In the political context of the time (Wang Anshi's statist New Policies) this can be read as a move against over-centralization and an insistence on local society's ability to manage its own affairs (“do not try to teach a jade cutter how to cut jade”, p. 48).”

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Local wealth generated successful shi and a powerful elite that was proud of the local heritage and capable of promoting it nationally.

“Local wealth produced successful shi and a powerful elite proud and able to promote the local heritage nationally.”

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Under Jurchen and Mongol rule, when a privileged shi identity was hard to maintain and shi families could not replicate their success, people adopted Daoism, which was surprisingly oriented toward the state.

“During the “dark ages” of Jurchen and Mongol rule, when it proved difficult to uphold a privileged shi identity and shi families were unable to reproduce their success, people turned to Daoism instead, yet a surprisingly state-oriented one.”

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At this time Guanzhong's agrarian economy was unable to sustain either a strong northern Daoxue school or local militias.

“But even in this period Guanzhong's agrarian economy could not support the further rise of a strong northern Daoxue school (as it could not support local militias, p. 82), and the Jurchen conquest sealed in 1142 ended its further development.”

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The opening chapter treats the Tang-Song transition in North China, adding to the better-known account of the south's rise.

“The first chapter provides an illuminating account on the Tang-Song transition in North China, complementing the more familiar and better-documented story of the rise of the south.”

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In his home town of Xianyang in the late 1890s, Liu Guangfen began a 'reviving China from the Northwest' campaign, roughly thirty years before a similar idea gained far wider national publicity.

“Liu Guangfen, the last of the Guanzhong scholars to be introduced in Ong's book, started a campaign of “reviving China from the Northwest” (p.194) in his native Xianyang in the late 1890s, three decades before the same idea with a slightly different twist was propagated with much more fanfare in the national press.”

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Even though the state sponsored the local Daoxue tradition after a destructive earthquake in 1303, local literati showed little interest in promoting a local scholar of national standing.

“Despite state sponsorship of the local Daoxue tradition following a devastating earthquake in 1303, local literati did not appear interested in the promotion of a local scholar of national importance.”

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Daoxue was reintroduced to Guanzhong from the south in the thirteenth century, with the local Daoxue tradition largely disregarded.

“In the thirteenth century Daoxue was brought back to Guanzhong from the south, all but ignoring the local Daoxue tradition.”

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In the nineteenth century, further warfare and famine wiped out this recently acquired wealth, yet local consciousness stayed strong enough that figures such as Liu Guangfen could assert more explicitly the local's significance for the nation.

“When in the nineteenth century another spate of warfare and famine thoroughly destroyed this newly gained wealth, local consciousness remained strong enough for people like Liu Guangfen to make more explicit claims on the importance of the local for the nation.”

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The book's central theme is the new elite's exclusive orientation toward the state, followed by a shift toward local engagement in the later Northern Song.

“The main theme is the exclusive state orientation of the new elite followed by a turn towards local commitment in the second half of the Northern Song.”

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The situation changed markedly in the Ming, when state policies boosted the Guanzhong economy by making long-distance trade profitable, a trend that persisted into the Qing as the empire expanded westward.

“This changed significantly in the Ming, when state policies invigorated the Guanzhong economy by making longdistance trade a lucrative affaira trend that continued in the Qing with the Western expansion of the empire.”

May combine two claims.

This wealth also enabled a sharp growth in published literary works, which is plainly one reason a collective Guanzhong identity became highly visible.

“This also made possible “an explosive increase in all kinds of published literary works”, which is clearly one of the reasons why a “collective Guanzhong identity becomes very visible” (p.131).”

• cites p.131Not matched

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