Description:
"In her study of the rise of charities amidst the late-Ming crises, Joanna Handlin Smith has marshaled so many interesting and rare sources that she is able as few before to give life and especially depth to a large and diverse group of remarkable people. This landmark book on one of the most exciting periods in Chinese history makes you all the more sorry that the Ming dynasty collapsed despite so much devotion and talent."--Pierre-etienne Will, College de France
"In her absorbing accounts of both big events and small, Joanna Handlin Smith has anchored her narrative in original research, producing a work of admirable scholarly care and ingenuity. This fine study, attentive as much to the complex of moral ideals underlying them as to the detailed practices of early modern famine relief and benevolent societies, will make a lasting contribution to our understanding of charity as performed in Chinese contexts."--Vivienne Shue, Oxford University
Review Quotes: "Few if any equals in the scholarly studies of the actual working of local politics in late imperial China."--Joseph McDermott "Journal Of Chinese Studies" (7/1/2010 12:00:00 AM)