The search for modern China

Summary: This text, the classic introduction to modern China for students and general readers, emerged from the author's introductory course at Yale, in which he traced the beginnings of modern China to internal developments beginning in the early 17th century. Strong on social and political history, as well as Chinese culture and its intersections with politics, this work is a longstanding leader in the survey course on modern China.

Record details

ISBN: 9780393934519 (pbk.)
ISBN: 0393934519 (pbk.)
Physical Description: print
xxxiii, 707, A136 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm
Edition: Third Edition.
Publisher: New York : W.W. Norton & Company, 2013.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references (pages A25-A52) and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

Conquest and Consolidation. The late Ming -- The Manchu conquest -- Kangxi's consolidation -- Yongzheng's authority -- Chinese society and the reign of Qianlong -- China and the eighteenth-century world . -- Fragmentation and Reform. The first clash with the West -- The crisis within -- Restoration through reform -- New tensions in the late Qing -- The end of the dynasty. -- Envisioning State and Society. The new republic -- A road is made -- The fractured alliance -- The Guomindang in power -- Communist survival. -- War and Revolution. World War II -- The fall of the Guomindang state -- The birth of the People's Republic -- Planning the new society -- Deepening the revolution -- Cultural revolution. -- War and Revolution. Reopening the doors -- Redefining revolution -- Levels of power -- Testing the limits -- Century's end -- Breakthrough?