The Diary of a Manchu Soldier in Seventeenth-Century China: "My Service in the Army," by Dzengseo

The Diary of a Manchu Soldier in Seventeenth-Century China: "My Service in the Army," by Dzengseo. Introduction, translation, and notes by Nicola Di Cosmo. New York: Routledge, 2006. ISBN 0-700-71611-4. Maps. Notes. References. Index. Pp. x, 140. 8110.00.

One of the most striking aspects of East Asian military literature compared with that of the West is the almost complete absence of a tradition of military diary writing prior to the twentieth century. Nicola Di Cosmo, Luce Foundation Professor in East Asian Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, has therefore performed an invaluable service to the profession and students alike by translating this fragment of a Manchu warrior's diary into English. The author of the text was a young mid-ranking officer in the mixed army of Chinese, Manchus, and Mongols that suppressed the so-called Three Feudatories Rebellion of 1673-1681, which constituted the last major military challenge to the consolidation of Qing (1644-1911) rule in China. Although he only participated in the campaigns of the war's final...