The Death of Woman Wang
1978
First Published
3.46
Average Rating
190
Number of Pages
Drawing on local Chinese histories, the memoirs of scholars, and other contemporary writings, Chinese historian Jonathan Spence reconstructs an extraordinary tale of rural tragedy in a remote corner of Shantung province in 17th-century China. Life in the county of T'an-ch'eng emerges as an endless cycle of floods, plagues, crop failures, banditry, and heavy taxation. Against this turbulent background a tenacious tax collector, an irascible farmer, and an unhappy wife act out a poignant drama at whose climax the wife, having run away from her husband, returns to him, only to die at his hands.
Avg Rating
3.46
Number of Ratings
937
5 STARS
15%
4 STARS
33%
3 STARS
38%
2 STARS
11%
1 STARS
3%
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