新刊紹介 Jonathan Spence，Treason by the Book

Jonathan Spence
Treason by the Book (300 p.)
Penguin Book
1399 Yen (Paperback, www.amazon.co.jp)

Written in a style of a historical novel, Jonathan Spence retells in this book the story of Zeng Jing, who tried to incite a revolt against the Emperor Yongzheng. As it is well-known, Zeng failed and was arrested in 1728. He was accused of having written a letter to General Yue Zhongqi, a descendant of the famous Song-general Yue Fei, in which he wanted to instigate him to a rebellion against the Qing.
Yue of course declines to start the rebellion with his soldiers and decides to send this outrageous letter to the emperor in Beijing. The following chapters are describing how Zeng Jing and all the people that were related to that matter were arrested and later interrogated. The main part of the book deals with the interrogation of Zeng Jing in Beijing, and shows in detail how Yongzheng convinced Zeng of not being an illegitime and brutal ruler, but someone who is rather a caring father of his people, may they be Mandchurian or Han-Chinese. It is fascinating to read what kind of techniques and tactics Yongzheng is using in order to achieve a change of heart of Zeng, yet without meeting him in person.
Jonathan Spence also shows with accuracy how communication between the emperor and his civil servants in the far distant provinces worked. It is astonishingly how advance and well-organized the bureaucracy was in the 18th century and how efficiently the Emperor’s orders reached the local municipalities. The book itself is mainly based on various sources of the Qing-dynasty, like the Dayu juemilu, reports to the emperor Yongzheng (1720, 30ies) and a daily court diary of Yongzheng.
Though the book reads like a medieval whodunnit and is not an academic book, it offers an interesting access to the Zeng-Jing-case by showing clearly how Zeng Jing was interrogated and how the officials especially on the provincial level acted. The further advantage of this book are the detailed footnotes that give references to the sources, so that the events in the story can be verified without problems.
（Marc MATTENさんより）