The Ming dynasty was the last great Chinese dynasty before the Manchu conquest in 1644. During that time, China, not Europe, was the center of the world: the European voyages of exploration were searching not just for new lands but also for new trade routes to the Far East. In this book, Timothy Brook eloquently narrates the changing landscape of life over the three centuries of the Ming (1368-1644), when China was transformed from a closely administered agrarian realm into a place of commercial profits and intense competition for status.

The Confusions of Pleasure marks a significant departure from the conventional ways in which Chinese history has been written. Rather than recounting the Ming dynasty in a series of political events and philosophical achievements, it narrates this longue durée in terms of the habits and strains of everyday life. Peppered with stories of real people and their negotiations of a rapidly changing world, this book provides a new way of seeing the Ming dynasty that not only contributes to the scholarly understanding of the period but also provides an entertaining and accessible introduction to Chinese history for anyone.

蔔正民（Timothy Brook）

哈佛大學哲學博士，不列顛哥倫比亞大學曆史係講座教授，加拿大皇傢學會會員，2015—2016年度亞洲研究學會（Association for Asian Studies）會長。曾任多倫多、斯坦福、牛津等大學曆史學教授，不列顛哥倫比亞大學聖約翰學院院長。主要研究明代社會和文化史、中國近代史、全球史，並擔任哈佛大學齣版社《帝製中國曆史》主編。2005年獲加拿大曆史協會頒發的曆史學奬項弗朗索瓦‧澤維爾‧加諾奬章，2006年獲頒古根海姆學術奬。

代錶著作有《縱樂的睏惑》《為權力祈禱》《維梅爾的帽子》《秩序的淪陷》《塞爾登的中國地圖》等。