Ming-Ch'ing Studies in Japan: 1984

Abstract

In 1980 Japanese scholars published more than seventy articles in the field of Ming-Ch'ing history; these articles reflect a strong concern for the study of water conservancy communities (suiri kyōdōtai) and the nature of the gentry (kyōshin ron). I begin with the debate (now nearing a climax) between Fujii Hiroshi and Kusano Yasushi over the date when cultivation rights for tenant farmers were firmly established in China; I have therefore been forced to dispense with many essays on other tonics. The selection surely reflects a certain bias on the reviewer's part. Last year there were quite a number of articles by Chinese scholars carried in Japanese journals and there was an active scholarly exchange (for example, the [Japanese] Ming-Ch'ing socioeconomic history delegation that visited Peking, Nanking, and Shanghai in April, and the international symposium on Ming-Ch'ing history held in Tientsin in August). These meetings gave Chinese, Japanese, and other foreign scholars the opportunity to deepen their ...