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Helio's Reviews > Imperial Twilight: The Opium War and the End of China's Last Golden Age
Imperial Twilight: The Opium War and the End of China's Last Golden Age
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This got to be a tough slog. Usually I read two books a week but I couldn't even get half way in three weeks on this one . It had interesting information given in a drawn out format. I'd rate it a 2.5 but cannot justify rounding it up to 3 nor rounding down to a 2 so I am not rating it. I will end with a comment given on page 184:
"Napoleon thought it absurd that Amherst should have refused to kowtow... the reply was that the British had the Royal Navy to which Napoleo responded 'it would be the worst thing you have done for a number of years, to go to war with an immense empire like China ... You would doubtless at first succeed ... but you would teach them their own strength. They would be compelled to adopt measures to defend themselves against you; they would... build ships ... to render themselves equal ... and in the course of time, defeat you.' "
"Napoleon thought it absurd that Amherst should have refused to kowtow... the reply was that the British had the Royal Navy to which Napoleo responded 'it would be the worst thing you have done for a number of years, to go to war with an immense empire like China ... You would doubtless at first succeed ... but you would teach them their own strength. They would be compelled to adopt measures to defend themselves against you; they would... build ships ... to render themselves equal ... and in the course of time, defeat you.' "
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Reading Progress
Finished Reading
(Hardcover Edition)
May 10, 2018
– Shelved
(Hardcover Edition)
May 10, 2018
– Shelved as:
to-read
(Hardcover Edition)
October 13, 2018
–
Started Reading
October 13, 2018
– Shelved
October 15, 2018
–
5.0%
"Page 10 "China in the 18th Century was not only the most populous and politically unified empire on earth, but also the most prosperous.""
October 20, 2018
–
18.0%
"Page 10 "China in the 18th Century was not only the most populous and politically unified empire on earth, but also the most prosperous.""
October 28, 2018
–
35.0%
"Page 10 "China in the 18th Century was not only the most populous and politically unified empire on earth, but also the most prosperous.""
October 31, 2018
–
Started Reading
October 31, 2018
–
42.0%
"Page 10 "China in the 18th Century was not only the most populous and politically unified empire on earth, but also the most prosperous.""
October 31, 2018
–
42.0%
"Page 10 "China in the 18th Century was not only the most populous and politically unified empire on earth, but also the most prosperous.""
October 31, 2018
–
Finished Reading
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Helio
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Oct 13, 2018 03:01PM
page xxv "It seemed paradoxal in the 1830s that a Liberal British government that had just abolished slavery could turn around and fight a war to support drug dealers, or that proponents of free trade would align their interests with smugglers."
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page 37 "At three o'clock in the morning...the ambassador was whisked away in a palaquin, dressed in his full regalia... He was followed through the dark by his suite and musicians, also done up in their best, who tried to march in formation behind him until they rearized they couldn't keep up with the quick footed Chinese porters who carried [his] litter, at which point they began running after him, breaking ranks as they got mixed up in various herds of pigs and donkeys that crowded the early m-morning road."
page 59 "Zhang's followers took to the roads... In just a few days, more than ten thousand White Lotus believers converged under Zhang's leadership, carrying swords, guns, powder ... They plundered villages to take supplies, conscripting their residents and stealing their food. This caused no moral discomfort to Zhang's followers, because unbelievers, as they had been taught would be destoyed when Buddha returned anyhow, so there was no reason to refrain from harming them now." !!!
Pages 110-111 "...from the floating world of Canton a young woman named Shi Yang emerged... she married ... a successful pirate captain named Zheng Yi. ... who she would help unite six rival pirate fleets ... totalling some 70,000 sailors on 400 ships ... more than twice the size of the Spanish Armada. ...She then assumed the supeme command of the confederation herself.
The first part dated a five, then as I got into the book a four, now it comes across as mundane and a tribulation to keep reading and I am hard pressed to give it a three - am going to try some fiction.
Page 181 "By fussing pointlessly over the kowtow, he squandered a rare opportunity to expand British Commerce." That was the way I felt about how the author went on and on and on about the kowtow; he squandered an opportunity to keep me engaged. When I went to renew this book at the library I was told I couldn't because someone else wanted it. My response was "Thank goodness!"
I appreciate the review. Too many on Goodreads appear to be bought reviewers who have been given the book for free or know the author. This was an insightful review. I may still buy the book as the subject interests me but I appreciate the honesty here.
Not sure what you read, but this may be the finest work of narrative history that I have ever read. Reads like a novel that I knocked out in a little less than 10 days.
