The written culture of 20th-century China has only recently begun to receive sustained attention from Western readers and critics. This book presents illuminating information on writers, audiences, and the impact of various literary works on politics and culture--and provides a unique window on Chinese society.
Twentieth Century China: New Approaches is an important revisionist study of China's recent past. The chapters throw light on a variety of subjects within the field, which has recently undergone considerable change. The three major parts of this reader take into account the historical shape of the century, local perspectives on national history, and reflections on cultural history. The chapters in this volume reflect a move away from a Western-centred analysis of Chinese history, as well as the new wealth of archival material made accessible over the last decade. They highlight in challenging ways important topics that have generated considerable excitement among historians. Subjects discussed include the watershed date of 1949, feminism, the revolutions, the discourse of the communist party, and political theatre in modern China.
Throughout this lively and concise historical account of Mao Zedong’s life and thought, Rebecca E. Karl places the revolutionary leader’s personal experiences, social visions and theory, military strategies, and developmental and foreign policies in a dynamic narrative of the Chinese revolution. She situates Mao and the revolution in a global setting informed by imperialism, decolonization, and third worldism, and discusses worldwide trends in politics, the economy, military power, and territorial sovereignty. Karl begins with Mao’s early life in a small village in Hunan province, documenting his relationships with his parents, passion for education, and political awakening during the fall of the Qing dynasty in late 1911. She traces his transition from liberal to Communist over the course of the next decade, his early critiques of the subjugation of women, and the gathering force of the May 4th movement for reform and radical change. Describing Mao’s rise to power, she delves into the dynamics of Communist organizing in an overwhelmingly agrarian society, and Mao’s confrontations with Chiang Kaishek and other nationalist conservatives. She also considers his marriages and romantic liaisons and their relation to Mao as the revolutionary founder of Communism in China. After analyzing Mao’s stormy tenure as chairman of the People’s Republic of China, Karl concludes by examining his legacy in China from his death in 1976 through the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
“Rich insights into how one country has dealt with perhaps the most central issue for any human society: the health and wellbeing of its citizens.” —The Lancet This volume examines important aspects of China’s century-long search to provide appropriate and effective health care for its people. Four subjects—disease and healing, encounters and accommodations, institutions and professions, and people’s health—organize discussions across case studies of schistosomiasis, tuberculosis, mental health, and tobacco and health. Among the book’s significant conclusions are the importance of barefoot doctors in disseminating western medicine; the improvements in medical health and services during the long Sino-Japanese war; and the important role of the Chinese consumer. This is a thought-provoking read for health practitioners, historians, and others interested in the history of medicine and health in China.
"Sullivan presents a wealth of material that has never before appeared in a Western language. I expect it will be the standard book on twentieth-century Chinese art for the foreseeable future."--Julia F. Andrews, author of Painters and Politics in the People's Republic of China "A most sympathetic and useful guide to twentieth-century Chinese art. Long the leading scholar on the subject, Professor Sullivan has presented a lucid account of a most dramatic chapter in Chinese art in a complex interplay of aesthetics, politics, cultural, and social history."--Wen C. Fong, Princeton University "So much of China's art in the twentieth century has to do with artistic (and political) ideas from the West that is is appropriate that one of its first comprehensive histories should be written by a Western scholar--especially one who has known personally many of China's leading artistic figures of the last fifty years. Not only does Professor Sullivan tell the complex story of twentieth century China art with lucidity and style, his learned text is also illuminated with witty anecdotes and incisive observations that can only come from an indsider."--Johnson Chang (Chang Tson-zung), Director, Hanart Tz Gallery, Hong Kong
“An important and much-needed introduction to this rich and fast-growing field. Hershatter has handled a daunting task with aplomb.” —Susan L. Glosser, author of Chinese Visions of Family and State, 1915–1953
Colonialism in China was a piecemeal agglomeration that achieved its greatest extent in the first half of the twentieth century, the last edifices falling at the close of the century. The diversity of these colonial arrangements across China's landscape defies systematic characterization. This book investigates the complexities and subtleties of colonialism in China during the first half of the twentieth century. In particular, the contributors examine the interaction between localities and forces of globalization that shaped the particular colonial experiences characterizing much of China's experience at this time. In the process it is clear that an emphasis on interaction, synergy and hybridity can add much to an understanding of colonialism in Twentieth Century China based on the simple binaries of colonizer and colonized, of aggressor and victim, and of a one-way transfer of knowledge and social understanding. To provide some kind of order to the analysis, the chapters in this volume deal in separate sections with colonial institutions of hybridity, colonialism in specific settings, the social biopolitics of colonialism, colonial governance, and Chinese networks in colonial environments. Bringing together an international team of experts, Twentieth Century Colonialism and China is an essential resource for students and scholars of modern Chinese history and colonialism and imperialism.
This is a history of student protests in Shanghai from the turn of the century to 1949, showing how these students experienced and help shape the course of the Chinese Revolution.