Treason by the Book

While books about political intrigue have become common place in our time, the lack of means of rapid printing and distribution, freedom of the press and the well reasoned fear of retribution, inter alia, hindered their appearance in 1728 in China. That has been remedied by Professor Spence in Treason by the Book. It rivals The Best and the Brightest in the description of the interior workings of government and All the Kings Men in describing the motives and intrigue of the people doing the work. Treason was constantly on the mind of the Manchu emperor of China in the early eighteenth century. He was regarded as a foreigner, a barbarian, his dynasty having come to rule China by the force of arms. His concern was understandable, as conquering emperors and kings often have not expired of natural causes. The Qing emperor, Yongzheng, had a brief and stormy reign from 1723 to 1735. He succeeded his father emperor Kangxi, who had ruled from 1662 to 1722 and had consolidated the Qing Empire. In turn he was succeeded by his fourth son, Emperor Qianlong, who ruled from 1736 to 1799, the longest in the history of China. The means by which Yongzheng ruled is summarized by Professor Spence: "He gives enormous power to his favorite officials, both Chinese and Manchu, but watches them with endless care and infiltrates their staffs with spies who report back to him on his favorites' words and conduct. He strikes them down mercilessly if he feels they are wavering in their loyalty." ... "He feels the morals of the nation are lax and must be corrected with a mixture of Confucian teachings and legal restraints." One caveat, this is a historical narrative. What Spence has constructed comes from historical sources. Indeed, the Chinese appear to have saved everything, at least in the Qing. Evidence of the emperor's thoughts can be seen as notations on the memorials that have been sent to him by high officials. They are insightful and instructive in conveying the concerns of Yongzheng and are indicative of his defensiveness. However, the downside of being true to the written record is that the characters in this story are flat. To the extent that emotions are displayed, they are cursory and summary, especially with regard to subordinate government officials. We may be impressed with the patience and consideration of the emperor, but he is portrayed as a two dimensional figure. That was perhaps unavoidable. This book only has the historical record as its source. Contemporary investigative reporting, which this book clearly resembles, is a Western invention and has not been practiced to any great extent in China. The incident that Spence has researched extensively, and as to which there appears to be a considerable amount of extant recorded detail, is an abortive, sophomoric Chinese conspiracy to start an uprising against the Manchu emperor. Zhang Xi, a peripatetic student, in a naïve effort to garner support, casts a letter at General Yue Zhongqi, the accomplished governor-general of two provinces. Yue is riding in his chair in Xian at the time. In the letter the conspirators proposed that Yue join with a group to overthrow the Manchu emperor Yongzheng and return China to the rule of a Chinese. The general, although a Chinese, is loyal to the Manchu emperor. He immediately informs the emperor of the possible treasonous activities of some of his subjects as disclosed in the letter. The emperor thereafter orders the identification and arrest of all the conspirators, including Zeng Jing, the leader and master of Zhang Xi. The minor players turn out not to be conspirators at all. They are mostly just acquaintances, although some are elderly students, an occupation evidently supported by the government for years on end. Their involvement with the prime conspirators seems to be serendipitous. The putative traitor, Zeng Jing, who is Chinese, had set forth in the letter to General Yue his numerous complaints about the emperor's character, rule and Manchu barbarism. The emperor, in what is a remarkable example of compulsive defensiveness, personally writes an 83 page rebuttal document, and has it read aloud to his senior officials. It is rather impressive in that, given his extensive arbitrary power and the customs of the time, he takes the time to justify his actions. Indeed, he is generally persuasive. Moreover, he displays great political intuition in knowing that since he has had Zeng's letter copied, its contents will undoubtedly leak out to the court and probably beyond. Therefore his rebuttal is both timely and, in the emperor's view, necessary. As a result of interrogations of the arrested conspirators it is determined, that all of the complaints about the emperor are second hand or more. Indeed, many are rumors that Zeng Jing has heard about the emperor having killed his brothers to obtain and keep the throne. The emperor decides that the source of the rumors should be found. As must be true of all political rumors, the sources of many were close to the court and the emperor's brothers. Once stated a rumor has a life of its own, being embellished and elaborated upon with each telling. An emperor who, it is said, complains about the wine becomes an alcoholic with the endless repeating of the complaint. Such is the nature of rumors, especially political ones. While the emperor may have believed himself to be falsely accused, some of the accusations of Zeng were founded upon the writings of Lü Liuliang and his followers. Lü, a scholar, was born in 1629 and died in 1683, long before Yongzheng came to power. He believed the Ming were ordained by heaven and wrote letters and poems with scorn for the Manchus. He revered the old Ming emperor and mocked the customs and administration of the barbarians. The emperor not only requested that he be given Lü's writings and those of his disciple, Yan Hongkui, it appears he read them in their entirety. Once the conspirators and their families and associates had been brought to Beijing and, in some cases released, the paranoia in the countryside had subsided. The emperor began a dialogue with Zeng Jing, the acknowledged traitor. He let Zeng read the various memorials and his endorsed comments which are associated with matters related to Zeng's accusations. At the emperor's request Zeng prepared responsive comments, mostly recognizing his own errors of thought. The emperor, in turn read those comments. In time, Zeng drafted a sincere confession praising the emperor and expressing regret for repeating the rumors and basing his treasonous thoughts upon them. As a result of Zeng's contrition, he is pardoned by the emperor, as are others. Remarkably however, Yongzheng directed that his writings, along with Zeng's accusations be assembled and published in a 509 page book entitled A Record of How True Virtue Led to an Awakening from Delusion. He further directed that it be distributed to officials and read to the people. Copies still exist and inspired Spence's research. However, in 1735, when Qianlong succeeds his father, Yongzheng, Zeng and Zhang are rearrested, brought to Beijing, in secrecy, and sentenced to death by slicing along with some members of their families. Qianlong and some of his advisors took an entirely different view of transparency in governance. The publication of Yongzheng's writings and Zeng's accusations, was suppressed, collected and to a great extent destroyed. Spence can be compared to Bob Woodward in his investigative reporting, digging out the facts and constructing the narrative. He follows the various individuals involved and their fates. He examines the rumors and how the emperor dealt with them. He also gives some insight into Yongzheng's views on governance. This may be an obscure and inconsequential tale, but it should be a lesson for all societies. The Yongzheng emperor opted for transparency, exposure and examination. Would that every political leader found the will to emulate him. The Qianlong emperor, in this instance, represented a resurgence of paranoia. What does this mean for us? Has Jonathan Spence written this in order to convey a lesson? He says no. He asserts that "...it can be said that both emperors got it wrong." Yongzheng thought exposing the rumors and explaining them was wise. But the people just remembered the rumors. Qianlong thought that by burning the book he could hide the rumors. But the people believed it was to hide the truth. Therefore, perhaps Professor Spence intended to let the reader decide. However, the correctness of one decision is clear. Western countries with a free press have exposed the internal confidential discussions of government as a matter of course. Once he had written his 83 page response, Yongzheng's decision to expose Zeng's letter and his writing appears to have been prescient.

Treason by the Book by Jonathon Spence...slogging through the first fifty or so pages I was prepared to write a scathing two star review, but then something weird and cool happened it sucked me in. The fear of treason consumes the leadership throughout 1600's China having just recently overthrown a previously corrupted impure leadership. But who has committed this treason and how ? Treason is a sickness gripping society where words, actions, the people you associate with, even the books you read fall under the scrutiny of the authorities often consuming many innocents. Book also provides interesting insights into the power of words and ideas to influence a population and the war of propaganda waged between the "evil books" and counter propaganda created by the state. Overall, its not an easy book to read through, its' a book that requires an exercise of free thought because there are surface ideas like what happens to persons accused of treason? And then broader ideas like what happens when a culture of fear is created amid a culture of ever shifting propaganda and counter propaganda?

Fairly scholarly writing, but still fascinating since it all really happened and well documented. Not a thriller beach read.

An interesting book made better by an awesome college prof. Delivered as promised,

Fast shipping and product was exactly as described. Would definitely buy from this seller again! Two thumbs up!

Great Authors write multilayered books. Jonathan Spence surely is one of these. The Yale University Chinese Scholar does not need any introduction and "Treason by the Book" is truly an enormous feat of historical research and cultural exploration.The episode of Chinese history (1728-1736) the book is based on is well known in Chinese culture due to the many documents that describe it and to its incredible and peculiar evolution. But Jonathan Spence has found the way not only to transcribe the ancient Chinese papers in meticulous detail but also to convey the historical context and the intricate plot.During the reign of the Qing Emperor Yongzheng (1725-1735) a hypothetical conspiracy is discovered and internal security measures of the strictest type are taken to identify conspirators and inspirers. After about a year's work, the arrest of hundreds of people, tons of letters, reports, files, interviews and third degrees, the Emperor convinces himself that there is in fact no conspiracy but only a diffusely spread discontent with his government that is based on false accusations, misinformation, gossips and rumors of the intellectual community and provincial badly informed subjects. Actually the true inspirer of the discontent is a long dead intellectual that resented the Machu Empire. In the light of this situation the Emperor decides that the best way to tackle the issue is to forcibly convince his subjects of the error they are partaking in. He pardons the indicted inspirer of the conspiracy and takes his confession written while in jail and makes it the nucleus of his own considerations that take the form of a massive inspired book: " Awakening from Delusion". This enormous text must be read in all Chinese middle schools two times a month and commented on. The Emperor's commands are promptly obeyed and apparently reason and conviction seem to take the place of violent and repressive actions for what we modernly call political dissention. Absolutism is restored with the fist in a velvet gauntlet and the Emperor's magnanimity is evident to all. However, as the world goes, even the bimonthly exposure to brainwashing does not seem to eliminate all signs of criticism towards a repressive political system and at the Emperor's death, his son Quianlong realizing how true many criticism contained in the book are has it banned and the pardoned "hypothetical traitor" executed. Apparent moral of the parable is absolutism even if imposed by reasoning, with pity and condescendence , forgiveness and humanity has absolutely no possibility of repressing rebellion. The only way it can work is through violent repression of dissent.Why is this book multilayered? Because it is first of all a transcription of ancient Chinese documents, that have been preserved with great care mostly in the imperial archives and many of which are open to study today. These documents have been organized to tell a story and the story is actually an investigation, a little bit like a modern police novel and reads as such. Through a delicate and often not so apparent effort Spence suggests a moral interpretation that is fascinating today like it was in the past.The style is very impersonal, but this is due to the transcription of the documents and it is interesting to note how illuministic and precise these documents were, as though in the eighteenth century in Cina we could find the same style of our European tradition.Since works of art and intelligent books make us find parallels in other stories we have been exposed to, this book reminds me of Orwell's 1984, of Gilliam's Brazil and of a very famous Italian Author (not well known in the US) Leonardo Sciascia that wrote a lovely book called the Council of Egypt, were the power of words has the same value as in "Treason by the Book". Read it if you can.A one line definition of this ancient/modern, investigative/political, documental/narrative work could be a parable on the nature of absolutism. Very enjoyable and enormously enriching.

Like all Jonathan Spence's books, this is based on original documents, which gives it an immediacy as well as historical accuracy. Treason by the Book provides a fascinating insight into the personality of one of the three great Qing dynasty emperors while revealing the remarkable information network used by the Chinese court in the first half of the 18th century.