The Death of Woman Wang: History Or Fantasy? Anonymous College

In his work The Death of Woman Wang, Jonathan Spence floats between the realms of reality and fantasy to supply the reader with an insight of the role common individuals played within late, imperial China. Spence weaves together a series of diverse sources to compile an untraditional yet well-defined image of a seventeenth century poor, rural county in Eastern China. This province in known as T’an-ch’eng and it is located in the province of Shantung. The unconventional manner in which Spence constructs his narrative begs pertinent questions regarding the legitimacy of the historical mindedness, accuracy and truth of his tale. However, despite his usage of fantastical elements, Jonathan Spence is able to create a truthful window into the world of the inhabitants of T’an-ch’eng from the years of 1668 to 1672 and also make thematic commentary regarding the everyday plight of the common person.

Jonathan Spence utilized three distinct sources to construct his picture of life in the T’an-ch’eng county in the late seventeenth century. Two of these sources are historically standard, while the third adds a dramatic and personalized perspective. The first text is the Local History of T’an-ch’eng, which was compiled in the year 1673. This...