Book Critique of Henrietta Harrison, Man Awakened from Dreams

Student’s Name
Professor
Unit
Due Date
Book Critique of Henrietta Harrison, Man Awakened from Dreams
In the studied account of Liu Dapeng‘s life by Henrietta Harrison, The Man Awakened from Dreams gives insight on a journey through the history of China during the nineteenth and twentieth century through a first-hand account of Dapeng’s writings. Dapeng was a Confucian scholar who observed his Confucian beliefs. He was also a provincial degree-holder who never held government office. Through Dapeng’s story, the author discusses the countryside’s decline caused by modernization and the transformation of Confucian ideology. Based on Dapeng’s diary and his writings, the book describes what it was like to study in an academy, peoples' experience with the government, the pressure of the changing family relationships, and life under the Chinese occupation.
The above illustrations have created a remarkable image of the interaction between an individual and society in the Shanxi setting. After reading this book, the audience may get a stronger sense of the transition for those living in nineteenth-century China moving into the twentieth century while trying to uphold their core values and oppressing China’s modernization. According to Schoppa (p. 144), Harrison analyzes Liu's writings while identifying the point at which the traditional and modern norms had similar characteristics in China's political, economic, moral, and intellectual spheres.
This book is a welcome instrument for modern Chinese courses and stimulating material for researchers interested in the last generation of non-elite Confucian scholars. Harrison begins his writing with a brief fieldwork narrative that portrays the setting. She identifies herself as a field historian who confronts the predictable hypothesis that historians need to uphold objectivity and neutrality of their area of study (Shao, p. 447). Whether or not Harrison establishes enough ethnographic viewpoints to this research, the beginning fieldwork tale matches well with her focus on experimental history in her methodology illustration.
The book’s preface highlights the relationship between Dapeng’s writing and his perspective of Confucianism. It also points out the link between Liu’s life and the author’s study of contemporary China. Here, Harrison raises provocative questions about the historical and emotional functions of diary writing. For instance, although publication was Liu’s original motivation to keep a diary, writing became his comfort and a way to reflect on anxiety or struggle periods (Harrison, p. 12). Perhaps, since this book targeted a specific audience, the author does not explore these questions in depth.
On the other hand, the absence of a more in-depth examination of the emerging questions allows the reader to think critically and increases interest in further research on the presented topics. It also invites criticism of the limitations of employing a personal diary in historical study. Harrison offers a well-balanced use and analysis of Liu's writings in this book despite the objections. She uses some of his writings, like the local gazette for Jinci, to cross-reference (Schoppa, P. 143). For t...