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Imperial Twilight

The Opium War and the End of China's Last Golden Age

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Imperial Twilight

Written by: Stephen R. Platt
Narrated by: Mark Deakins
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About this listen

As China reclaims its position as a world power, Imperial Twilight looks back to tell the story of the country's last age of ascendance and how it came to an end in the 19th-century Opium War.

As one of the most potent turning points in the country's modern history, the Opium War has since come to stand for everything that today's China seeks to put behind it.

In this dramatic, epic story, award-winning historian Stephen Platt sheds new light on the early attempts by Western traders and missionaries to "open" China even as China's imperial rulers were struggling to manage their country's decline and Confucian scholars grappled with how to use foreign trade to China's advantage.

The audiobook paints an enduring portrait of an immensely profitable - and mostly peaceful - meeting of civilizations that was destined to be shattered by one of the most shockingly unjust wars in the annals of imperial history. Brimming with a fascinating cast of British, Chinese, and American characters, this riveting narrative of relations between China and the West has important implications for today's uncertain and ever-changing political climate.

©2018 Stephen R. Platt (P)2018 Random House Audio 19th Century Asia Military Modern Wars & Conflicts World China War Imperialism Imperial Japan Capitalism Ancient China

What the critics say

"Everyone with experience in China has heard about the legacy of the Opium War and subsequent ‘Century of Humiliation.’ But Stephen Platt presents the buildup to this confrontation in a vivid and fascinating way, which challenges many prevailing assumptions in both China and the West (including some of my own). This is narrative and analytic history of a high order, which will be read with enjoyment by audiences around the world.” (James Fallows, author of Our Towns and China Airborne)

"A deeply researched study of an early clash of civilizations, when England attempted to impose its will on East Asia... A fluent, well-written exercise in revisionism, one of interest to students of modern geopolitics as well as 19th-century history." (Kirkus)

"A fresh perspective on the first Opium War, the conflict that allowed Western merchants to pry open China’s riches and gain unprecedented trading privileges... Platt's research is impeccably presented in this winning history of British and Chinese trade." (Publishers Weekly)
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I had no idea the extents of British involvement in Chinese politics. This is also a great history of China from the 15th to 19th century, from empirial politics (the reasons behind the decline of the Empire) to the culture of the common Chinese citizen. You can infer the connections of the events in this book to the later Taiping Revolution and Communist Revolution, what an eye opener!

Excellently engaging and fascinating

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Narration is great.

The book is fantastic. Exactly what I was looking for on this topic. Both good history but also a good drama. The author explains the characters and reads from their private journals and correspondence, giving you a real feel for who the actors in this part of history were.

Wonderful book great narrator

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Well written overall and easy to follow. This is a book about the circumstances leading up the opium war. It dives into the people who were at the heart of the interface between the China and the west. It does not discuss in any detail the fighting itself, the living conditions of the people in this place at this time any of the details around the consumption of opium. I felt the last 3rd of the book kind of rushed to the end and glossed over what I was expecting to be the climax: the actual war itself. I now have to go and use wikipedia to learn that part of the story.

Well written but not the story I was hoping for

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