ES UNIVERSITY OI CAMBRIDGE ORIENTAL STUDIES TRIPOS Part II Chinese Studies Friday 10 June 2011 09.00A12.00 C.15 DYNASTIC CHINA: SPECIFIED SUBJECT Candidates should answer THREE of the following questions. All questions are of equal value. Write your number not your name on the cover sheet of your answer book. STATIONERY REQUIREMENTS 20 Page Answer Book x 1 Rough Work Pad You may not start to read the questions printed on the subsequent pages of this question paper until instructed that you may do so by the Invigilator
2 OST2/C.15 Answer THREE of the following questions 1. Identify and explain the political innovations of Ming China that mark off its rule from the practices of earlier dynasties. 2. Assess the contribution of women to the successful operation of the Chinese lineage in late imperial times. 3. What are the strengths and weaknesses in Michael Szonyi's analysis of the Chinese lineage, particularly for use in other parts of south China? 4. What commercial practices, traditional and new, were crucial to the Huizhou merchants' success in the Yangzi Valley during the last two centuries of Ming rule? 5. Who, if anyone, were the 'enemies' of friendship in late imperial China? On what grounds could they be considered its 'enemies'? 6. 'A principal difficulty in studying the painting of the Ming period is the frequent contradiction between Ming artists' statements about painting and the paintings they actually produced.' Discuss, with reference to specific painters and paintings. 7. How can we explain variations in the shifting power relations between village institutions during the Ming? Consider at least two areas of the empire. 8. Assess and explain the role of the state in fostering or hindering the development of 'a community of learning' in Ming China? 9. 'The weakness of the Jin ping mei as a novel can be attributed to the neo- Confucian intellectual and moral framework in which the author embeds the story of a family.' Discuss. 10. To what extent can the financial problems of the Ming dynasty be linked to changes in currency supply, as opposed to financial policies? END OF PAPER