Schoppa Chapter 4
I suppose it's high time for me to actually catch up with the Schoppa blogs, especially because this is going to help me get my thoughts together for the paper, so, here we go. Some very far back-logged blogging. (Because you know you wanted more! BWAHAHAH!... no, really. xD)
Chapter 4 of Schoppa's book, "Image and Remembrance. 1644-1705" represents the transition from the Ming dynasty to the Qing dynasty.
"Xiang Lake was a reservoir, storing water to pour forth in drought-destroying streams. Xiang Lake was a source of food, of fish and plants pulled from the depths. Xiang Lake was a transporter to gravesites, tree-shrouded pavilions, and crumbling shrines. Xiang Lake was a source of pleasure, intensifying the giddiness of a wine-induced reverie." (89) The lake was a source of life for those around it; it offered many things to fulfill the needs of the townships that surrounded it.
"The lake, the river, the well became agents of death for the horror- and panic-stricken, to escape the fury of the Manchu army. The depths of the lake became the apartments of the dead, the corpses mingling with the tangle of water plants, then floating to the sunlit surface, where their stench, like nature's fury itself, destroyed every possible image of fragrance, leaving only the nauseating smell of death." (92) With the invasion of the Manchu, the lake was no longer a source of life, but rather a place of death; the view of nature shifted. It was a place to escape forever the rampaging armies of the fallen Ming and the ascending Qing.
"For most, escape meant traumatic flight, leaving home and most possessions to venture into an area less likely to experience the ravages of war. Becoming a refugee, however, was not easy... [(Sidenote: DUH. Thanks for stating the obvious, Schoppa.)] Away from home, how would one live? Away from home, how would one speak to villagers whose dialect (so different it might as well be a foreign tongue) might differ from village to village? Away from home in a culture in which outsiders were considered as threats or as nonpeople to be ignored, how would one cope? Only staring into the face of the specter of rape, pillage, and murder could the choice of flight become feasible." (94) This was not a fun time to be from Xiang lake, obviously.
"Many stayed to farm, fish, dig mud, carry on trade, and live as though the world around them were peaceful, ignoring the turmoil if it did not affect their own personal interests." (94). I'd like to point out that this is probably the key to the issue of environmental problems and everything that plagues China today. Nobody gives a damn, they stick their heads in the sand and pretend it's okay, because that's what Mao would want. Well, maybe not... but still. If people would stop ignoring the problems around them, in China and elsewhere, things could be better worldwide.
"Most important, however, was the growing disaffection [for the "administrator of the realm"] of the populace. The military had become omnipresent. The people were continually expected to provide more soldiers and send more provisions. Assaulted by the seemingly inevitable military plundering- some of the worst of which occurred around Xiang Lake and Long River near Fang Guo'an's garrison- the populace saw the confiscation of the wealth first of those who had thrown in their lot with the Manchus, then of the very wealthy Ming supporters, and finally of the commoners themselves." (96). The fringe group of Qing that were trying to hold their power just kept screwing up with the populace. They were doomed to failure and merely needed to get their acts together and accept it themselves. Things weren't going to turn around, and their constant failures and demands all but guaranteed that people would turn to the Ming.
Then the Qing fall, and the Ming take over. Yes, this was inevitable. It's also history, so we knew it was coming. No huge plot-twist here.
So, then we've got a bit about the poets that Schoppa is so enamored of, followed by the climax of the chapter: the Sun lineage's encroachment on the Lake. (OMG! Encroachers! With money! What do we do?!)
"The climactic attempt of the Sun lineage leaders to turn a public reservoir into a private preserve came in the early fall of 1689." (105) The Sun family continued to be self-serving and went so far as to slice the already-ruined Lower Xiang Lake in two via a dike that allowed them to reach the "county seat" with greater ease. Lazy bums. Mao Qiling took action, thankfully.
"Disgusted with the deciet of the Sun clique, he called for an immediate meeting of officials and people to discuss the problem. But even now, with this special emissary from the governor, there was only silence: no one would discuss the case. Mao returned briefly to Hangzhou for medical treatment but tried a few days later to sponsor a meeting; again no one came. A second attempt brought people together, but they simply sat and stared: those who knew about lake matters dared not set forth formal legal complaints. Even though the Sun's actions were endangering the livelihood of those irrigating from Lower Xiang Lake and ultimately would affect all irrigators, area people feared immediate retaliation by the overreaching Sun clique, whose arrogance before the community and officialdom apparently knew no limits." (106-107) Nobody would help Mao deal with the Sun. They were cowards who were terrified of confrontation and ultimately had nobody to blame for the ruination of the lake but themselves.
"The passivity of the Chinese around Xiang Lake may be charged to intimidation and fear, but it points even more to the immobility that stemmed from submission to authority, the trait inculcated in family training and through the various government ethical-political strategies that promoted officially prescribed virtue." (108).
I was going to put chapter 5 in here as well, but this is actually a very long response, so I think it may be more appropriate to put it into its own post.
Chapter 4 of Schoppa's book, "Image and Remembrance. 1644-1705" represents the transition from the Ming dynasty to the Qing dynasty.
"Xiang Lake was a reservoir, storing water to pour forth in drought-destroying streams. Xiang Lake was a source of food, of fish and plants pulled from the depths. Xiang Lake was a transporter to gravesites, tree-shrouded pavilions, and crumbling shrines. Xiang Lake was a source of pleasure, intensifying the giddiness of a wine-induced reverie." (89) The lake was a source of life for those around it; it offered many things to fulfill the needs of the townships that surrounded it.
"The lake, the river, the well became agents of death for the horror- and panic-stricken, to escape the fury of the Manchu army. The depths of the lake became the apartments of the dead, the corpses mingling with the tangle of water plants, then floating to the sunlit surface, where their stench, like nature's fury itself, destroyed every possible image of fragrance, leaving only the nauseating smell of death." (92) With the invasion of the Manchu, the lake was no longer a source of life, but rather a place of death; the view of nature shifted. It was a place to escape forever the rampaging armies of the fallen Ming and the ascending Qing.
"For most, escape meant traumatic flight, leaving home and most possessions to venture into an area less likely to experience the ravages of war. Becoming a refugee, however, was not easy... [(Sidenote: DUH. Thanks for stating the obvious, Schoppa.)] Away from home, how would one live? Away from home, how would one speak to villagers whose dialect (so different it might as well be a foreign tongue) might differ from village to village? Away from home in a culture in which outsiders were considered as threats or as nonpeople to be ignored, how would one cope? Only staring into the face of the specter of rape, pillage, and murder could the choice of flight become feasible." (94) This was not a fun time to be from Xiang lake, obviously.
"Many stayed to farm, fish, dig mud, carry on trade, and live as though the world around them were peaceful, ignoring the turmoil if it did not affect their own personal interests." (94). I'd like to point out that this is probably the key to the issue of environmental problems and everything that plagues China today. Nobody gives a damn, they stick their heads in the sand and pretend it's okay, because that's what Mao would want. Well, maybe not... but still. If people would stop ignoring the problems around them, in China and elsewhere, things could be better worldwide.
"Most important, however, was the growing disaffection [for the "administrator of the realm"] of the populace. The military had become omnipresent. The people were continually expected to provide more soldiers and send more provisions. Assaulted by the seemingly inevitable military plundering- some of the worst of which occurred around Xiang Lake and Long River near Fang Guo'an's garrison- the populace saw the confiscation of the wealth first of those who had thrown in their lot with the Manchus, then of the very wealthy Ming supporters, and finally of the commoners themselves." (96). The fringe group of Qing that were trying to hold their power just kept screwing up with the populace. They were doomed to failure and merely needed to get their acts together and accept it themselves. Things weren't going to turn around, and their constant failures and demands all but guaranteed that people would turn to the Ming.
Then the Qing fall, and the Ming take over. Yes, this was inevitable. It's also history, so we knew it was coming. No huge plot-twist here.
So, then we've got a bit about the poets that Schoppa is so enamored of, followed by the climax of the chapter: the Sun lineage's encroachment on the Lake. (OMG! Encroachers! With money! What do we do?!)
"The climactic attempt of the Sun lineage leaders to turn a public reservoir into a private preserve came in the early fall of 1689." (105) The Sun family continued to be self-serving and went so far as to slice the already-ruined Lower Xiang Lake in two via a dike that allowed them to reach the "county seat" with greater ease. Lazy bums. Mao Qiling took action, thankfully.
"Disgusted with the deciet of the Sun clique, he called for an immediate meeting of officials and people to discuss the problem. But even now, with this special emissary from the governor, there was only silence: no one would discuss the case. Mao returned briefly to Hangzhou for medical treatment but tried a few days later to sponsor a meeting; again no one came. A second attempt brought people together, but they simply sat and stared: those who knew about lake matters dared not set forth formal legal complaints. Even though the Sun's actions were endangering the livelihood of those irrigating from Lower Xiang Lake and ultimately would affect all irrigators, area people feared immediate retaliation by the overreaching Sun clique, whose arrogance before the community and officialdom apparently knew no limits." (106-107) Nobody would help Mao deal with the Sun. They were cowards who were terrified of confrontation and ultimately had nobody to blame for the ruination of the lake but themselves.
"The passivity of the Chinese around Xiang Lake may be charged to intimidation and fear, but it points even more to the immobility that stemmed from submission to authority, the trait inculcated in family training and through the various government ethical-political strategies that promoted officially prescribed virtue." (108).
I was going to put chapter 5 in here as well, but this is actually a very long response, so I think it may be more appropriate to put it into its own post.
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