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Product Description
Product Description
This rich blend of history, anecdotal narrative, biographical portraits and illustrations evokes 500 years of imperial China through the story of its palace, the Forbidden City. It describes the emperor's ceremonial life, the stultifying world of his concubines, eunuchs and palace maids, and the devastating impact of the West in the late 19th century.
A new chapter deals with the treasures and paintings collected under imperial patronage - their dramatic dispersal, painstaking recovery and restoration - and ends in the triumphant establishment of the Palace Museum
A new chapter deals with the treasures and paintings collected under imperial patronage - their dramatic dispersal, painstaking recovery and restoration - and ends in the triumphant establishment of the Palace Museum
About the Author
Caroline Courtauld is a writer, photographer and documentary film producer. From 1992 to 1997 she worked with Jonathan Dimbleby on a BBC documentary project about Hong Kong in the period up to its transfer of sovereignty to China. Her book The Hong Kong Story was published by Oxford University Press.
Hu Chui is head of the photographic and information department of the Palace Museum, Beijing. His work has been published to international acclaim, and exhibited in the UK, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the USA.
May Holdsworth was born in Shanghai and educated in Hong Kong, Malaysia and England. She has been writing about China since 1979, and lives in Hong Kong.
Jonathan D. Spence is Sterling Professor of History at Yale University. He has written a great number of acclaimed works on China, including Return to Dragon Mountain, The Gate of Heavenly Peace and The Search for Modern China.
Hu Chui is head of the photographic and information department of the Palace Museum, Beijing. His work has been published to international acclaim, and exhibited in the UK, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the USA.
May Holdsworth was born in Shanghai and educated in Hong Kong, Malaysia and England. She has been writing about China since 1979, and lives in Hong Kong.
Jonathan D. Spence is Sterling Professor of History at Yale University. He has written a great number of acclaimed works on China, including Return to Dragon Mountain, The Gate of Heavenly Peace and The Search for Modern China.
Inside This Book
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I knew very little about the Forbidden City before I read this book, and having read it now know considerably more. The author knows her subject well, and the photographs are excellent.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3 reviews
12 of 15 people found the following review helpful
A Coffee-table Book but no more
6 Oct 1999
Format:Hardcover
If you want a coffee table book, then buy it. The photographs by Hu Chui are stunning, and the reproductions of Chinese scrolls and paintings are excellent.
However, the information about the Forbidden City is at the breakfast mush level - easy to digest but of little value. The information is superficial, and often inaccurate. Knowledgeable students of the Forbidden City will groan, and wince. It perpetuates blunders such as referring to the East Glory Gate as the East 'Flowery Gate,' and the Chinese advisor on eunuchs knows little about the subject. The book talks about emperors as if they all had the same personality and all did the same things.
Enjoy the pictures, but take the text with milk and sugar.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Great Pictures!
1 July 2000
Format:Hardcover
If you are a fan of Chinese history or art, this is the book for you. I enjoyed this book because of the magnificent pictures, and ancient Chinese paintings depicted in it. Not only are the pictures interesting, but so is the text. It tells of......I guess you'll have to see for yourself! Great buy, all though I was afraid at first that I payed too much, after I recieved it those fears were put to rest.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Great Pictures But Could do more work on the Information
6 Sep 2000
Format:Hardcover
I had hoped to be reading about the Forbidden City-its origins, its designers, its layout, the function of the buildings and structures, the treasures it contained,the catastrophes it survived and so forth.
I was disappointed to find that only the first chapter was of some relevance to the Forbidden City. The rest of the chapters were devoted to the famous "inhabitants", the officers ranking system, concubines, eunuchs, the foreign priests and so forth.
The books saving grace is the breath-taking photography. But then some of the pictures I felt were rather irrelevant to the Forbidden City ie Yong Zheng's concubines, Kang Xi's various potraits.
In conclusion, this is a good book for browsing through the pictures, but not for the serious historian.
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