White Lotus Rebels and South China Pirates: Crisis and Reform in the Qing Empire by Wensheng Wang (review)

If you are going to read one book about China’s perilous transition from the eighteenth to the nineteenth centuries, it should be Wang’s White Lotus Rebels and South China Pirates. Clearly written and theoretically informed, the book does far more than its title promises. In showing how the court of the Jiaqing Emperor (1796–1820) responded to the crises of the turn of the nineteenth century, it explains how the Qing dynasty turned away from the grandly assertive style of the Qianlong reign (1736–1796) to the more restrained and ultimately effective political style of the nineteenth century. Throughout their rule in China, the Manchus, leaders of the Qing dynasty, demonstrated an ability to adapt Chinese political institutions to meet the needs that they perceived, and this account amply demonstrates their continued ability in the early nineteenth century.

Like all good imperial history, this book describes both the center and the periphery, correctly understanding that imperial dynamics lay in the relationship between the two. Part II of the book offers a clear and valuable chapter about the rebellion lead by the messianic White Lotus sect in west-central China, and the growing problem of piracy along the coast. Despite abundant research, these events have not been placed in the larger context of imperial transition. Descriptions of the White Lotus rebellion have often come in articles or dissertations that, for one reason or another, have not been published. Wang’s careful and informed synthesis of writings about the White Lotus represents, in itself, a valuable contribution to the field.

But the core of the book—a careful study of the abdication and death of the Qianlong Emperor, and the reforms undertaken by the Jiaqing Emperor in the first months of his reign—will attract the most attention. Although the events of early 1800—in particular, the dramatic execution of the old emperor’s favorite Hesen within a week of Qianlong’s death—have long been known, the careful reconstruction of the logic behind the execution and the controversial institutional reforms that followed it are new. Those who had suffered at the hands of Hesen protested that the reforms did not go far enough. They, and historians who follow them today, argued that the reforms left in place a system in which a handful of imperial counselors could dominate policy making. The counselors may have changed, as the argument goes, but the basic system did not. Wang counters this view, carefully tracing the changes in procedure and the increased attention to statute that marked the documents of the reign. Wang’s position is convincing and important; it demonstrates a continued political flexibility that rendered the Qing viable, if occasionally beleaguered, for another century.

The only minor cavil is the book’s lack of a bibliography, necessitating time-consuming searches through the notes for the full citation of sources. Nonetheless, it is a small price to pay for an extremely valuable book.