INTERVIEW WITH
LINDA JAIVIN
Linda is an essayist, translator, cultural commentator and the author of 12 books, including the acclaimed The Shortest History of China. She lives in Sydney, Australia.
By the 17th century the Ming Dynasty was desperate and weak. The Manchu peoples of the northeast were asked to help, but instead took their opportunity, captured the capital Beijing, and the Qing Dynasty was born. The country grew, along with stronger trade links with the Western powers. Chinese goods were all the rage, but European demands were ruthless, their response to resistance brutal, and the social and political cost was high. Internal strife and rival factions all but fractured the country, but could hundreds of years of Qing rule prevail?
To what extent was the appetite for Chinese goods in the West a curse for Chinese society and its rulers?
It was a terrible
