The Emperor of China: Self Portrait of K'ang-hsi

by JonathanD.Spence (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  1992

  $10.40

  This re-creation of the life of K'ang-hsi (1661-1772), drawn from his letters, edicts, pardons and poems. The Emperor K'ang-hsi was one of the greatest rulers in all China's 3000-year history, a man every bit as powerful as his two contemporaries, Peter the Great and Louis XIV. His long reign extended from 1661 to 1772, and when he died he left a flourishing and stable kingdom more vast than any other on earth. Yet the man himself has remained unknown: like all the emperors of China, K'ang-hsi lived out his days sealed behind screens of protocol - remote, exalted, his true nature an enigma. In this book the author has caused K'ang-hsi to reveal himself in his own words. Bear-hunting on the steppes, leading armies, doling out punishments and rewards, trying to understand everything from Western clocks to the I Ching , siring 56 children by 30 consorts (and watching their heartbreaking intrigues), struggling with old age, K'ang-hsi emerges complex and engaging, a moving and human figure.