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Full Description
This book includes eleven seminal essays by one of America's leading authorities on modern Chinese history with an illuminating preface by Prof. Elizabeth Perry of Harvard University. it covers a range of topics from the impact of imperialism to the 1989 protests that led to the Tiananmen massacre. Chapters include an explanation of how China expanded its borders far beyond the Han Chinese heartland and maintained those borders in the transition from empire to nation; how Sun Yat-sen unexpectedly emerged as the Father of the Country; and how a series of unexpected and contingent events brought the empire down in 1911.
Despite conventional representations of a static and unified China, this book proves Chinese society to be diverse and constantly changing—especially after the Communist revolution which was a transformative event in modern Chinese history. Esherick denounces traditional imagery of cultural uniformity, which derives from excessive attention to the unitary state, through chapters that explore the impact of the 1937-45 War of Resistance against Japan, the dramatic wartime transformation of Chinese society in both Communist and Nationalist (Guomindang) areas, and the nature of the new Communist regime in Northwest China.
In his book, Esherick examines both the Marxist-Leninist theory behind Mao's notion of the "restoration of capitalism," against which he waged the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s, and the political theater of the 1989 protest movement. Throughout the book the contingency of history, the need for careful empirical research, and the important yet limited role of history is highlighted as the key to understanding the present or predicting the future of China.
Contents
Table of Contents
Author's Preface
Preface: Reflecting on China in Revolution, by Elizabeth J. Perry
PART I: ON IMPERIALISM
1. The Apologetics of Imperialism
2. From Anti-Imperialism to Post-Colonial Theory
PART II: A DIVERSE AND CHANGING CHINA
3. Local Elites: Resources and Strategies
PART III: FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
4. From Qing to China
5. Sun Yat-sen: Father of the Nation
6. Reconsidering 1911
PART IV: REVOLUTION
7. War and Revolution
8. Rethinking the Communist Revolution
9. Deconstructing the Party-State
PART V: CONTEMPORARY CHINA
10. On "The Restoration of Capitalism"
11. Political Theater in Modern China
Afterword: History Lessons
