[Peace-discuss] Hello how ah ya.

[C. G. Estabrook]

Fascinating.

As the mad Phil Graham said, journalism is the first rough draft of history.

This sounds like that.


On 5/5/10 4:20 AM, E.Wayne Johnson wrote:
> yes I have read one or two in the Flashman series but not that one. I found
> Spence's book online and I can read at least part of it that way so I will
> take a look at it soon. * It is interesting how history repeats itself. The
> Chinese insisted on getting payment in gold and silver for the stuff they
> were selling the British, and they had little interest in balancing the
> trade. In the meantime the gold and silver of the British was being
> expended. The Taipings were playing havoc with the opium trade, so the
> British had an economic and financial interest in aiding their demise. * This
> particular history is interesting because it is a contemporary account by
> authors living in Guangzhou at least part of the time and it is not yet
> known how the whole matter will turn out.
>
> HISTORY OF THE INSURRECTION IN CHINA; WITH NOTICES OF THE CHRISTIANITY,
> CREED, AND PROCLAMATIONS OF THE INSURGENTS.
>
> Joseph-Marie Callery , Melchior Yvan
>
> BOMBAY : SMITH, TAYLOR&  CO. 1854
>
> The book concludes with an appended account of an failed attempt by the
> Qings
>
> to retake Amoy (Xiamen) and these words:
>
> "The announcement of the fall of Pekin has been expected on the arrival of
> every mail
>
> for some time past and Canton (Guangzhou) has been in a state of great
> disquietude.
>
> However the capture of these two places seems to be reserved for a later
> chapter in the
>
> history of this wonderful revolution.  That the question is only one of time,
> and that the
>
> insurgents will in the end become masters of the whole of China, is
> established beyond
>
> the possibility of doubt."
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "C. G. Estabrook" <galliher at illinois.edu
> <mailto:galliher at illinois.edu>> To: "E.Wayne Johnson" <ewj at pigs.ag
> <mailto:ewj at pigs.ag>> Cc: "peace-discuss" <peace-discuss at anti-war.net
> <mailto:peace-discuss at anti-war.net>>; "Karen Medina" <kmedina67 at gmail.com
> <mailto:kmedina67 at gmail.com>> Sent: Wednesday, May 05, 2010 2:11 PM Subject:
> Re: [Peace-discuss] Hello how ah ya.
>
>> A typo (Tai-po?): actually, Spence's book is (1996).
>>
>>
>> On 5/5/10 1:04 AM, C. G. Estabrook wrote:
>>> Have you read any of the late George MacDonald Fraser's Flashman novels?
>>> To my mind some of the best historical fiction, learned and irreverent.
>>>
>>> Flashman and the Dragon (1985) is the eighth in the series. Flashman
>>> meets both the leaders of the Taiping Rebellion and members of the Qing
>>> Dynasty who resisted the British march to Pekin in 1860 - and
>>> participates in the burning of the Summer Palaces.
>>>
>>> I'm told that the best thing in English on the Taiping Rebellion is
>>> Jonathan D. Spence, God's Chinese Son (1966).
>>>
>>> On 5/5/10 12:32 AM, E.Wayne Johnson wrote:
>>>> I have been reading the "History of the Insurrection in China" written
>>>> in 1854 which is about the early years of the Tai Ping Tian Guo. It's
>>>> pretty interesting. Although the French romanization of the Chinese
> is a
>>>> bit strange and inconsistent, I can figure out what they mean by the
>>>> names and places and know some of those places.
>>>>
>>>> The Tai Ping Kingdom was successful against the degenerating Qing
>>>> Dynasty and took over most of south China before being crushed by the
>>>> British army in the 1860's.
>>>>
>>>> Sun Yat-Sen was heavily influenced by one of the surviving old Tai
>>>> Ping-ers.

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