Making China Modern: From the Great Qing to Xi Jinping

Klaus Mühlhahn

Published by Harvard University Press 2019

Making China Modern

From the Great Qing to Xi Jinping

Klaus Mühlhahn

https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674916067

Overview
Contents

About this book

Klaus Mühlhahn situates modern China in the nation’s long, dynamic tradition of overcoming adversity and weakness through creative adaptation—a legacy of crisis and recovery that is apparent today in China’s triumphs but also in its most worrisome trends. Mühlhahn’s panoramic survey rewrites the history of modern China for a new generation.

Reviews

Mühlhahn chronicles reforms, revolutions, and wars through the lens of institutions, often rebutting Western impressions, such as the view of Chinese bureaucracy as monolithic. He also warns against thinking of China’s economic success as proof of a unique path without contextualizing it in historical specifics.
-- New Yorker

A major achievement…It is written with clarity and humanity, and draws clearly on a wide range of recent scholarship…Mühlhahn’s book can be recommended in the highest terms.
-- Rana Mitter American Historical Review

Innovative and fresh…Mühlhahn’s skillful presentation will make this book a highly popular one.
-- David Buck H-Net Reviews

Mühlhahn offers a detailed, balanced survey of the history of modern China, from the rise of the Qing in the early 17th century to the dawn of the Xi administration in 2012… A masterful synthesis.
-- Choice

A truly important book. Not since Fairbank have we seen such a masterful sweep of traditional, modern, and contemporary history of China thoroughly grounded in Chinese materials and perspectives but eloquently addressed to the interests and concerns of an English-reading public. Mühlhahn’s narrative will help people anywhere in the world make sense of the China they must deal with today.
-- Timothy Cheek, author of The Intellectual in Modern Chinese History

Mühlhahn is one of the world’s leading historians of modern China. A scholar of breadth and depth across disciplines, he has written a compelling narrative of China’s great last empire, the Qing, and of the revolutions and republics that have struggled to succeed it. This thoughtful, probing interpretation is a worthy successor to the famous histories of Fairbank and Spence and will be read by all students and scholars of modern China.
-- William C. Kirby, coauthor of Can China Lead?

A remarkable accomplishment. Unlike an earlier generation of scholarship, Making China Modern does not treat China’s contemporary transformation as a postscript. It accepts China as a major and active player in the world, places China at the center of an interconnected and global network of engagement, links domestic politics to international dynamics, and seeks to approach China on its own terms.
-- Wen-hsin Yeh, author of Shanghai Splendor

At last we have a serious introduction to modern China in which the Chinese are the principal architects of their history, drawing upon the ideas and symbols embedded in their own cultural contexts and normative traditions to create distinctive institutions responsive to the crises and opportunities they have encountered. Anyone wanting to understand the importance of contemporary China for our global future should read this important book.
-- R. Bin Wong, coauthor of Before and Beyond Divergence

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Timeline: China, 1644–2017 Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Maps Publicly Available Download PDF	xiii
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part 1: The Rise and Fall of Qing China
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	21
1. Age of Glory: 1644–1800 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	25
2. Reordering the Chinese World: 1800–1870 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	85
3. Late Qing Predicaments: 1870–1900 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	153
Part 2: Chinese Revolutions
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	203
4. Upending the Empire: 1900–1919 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	209
5. Rebuilding during the Republican Era: 1920–1937 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	248
6. China at War: 1937–1948 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	298
Part 3: Remaking China
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	353
7. Socialist Transformation: 1949–1955 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	359
8. Leaping Ahead: 1955–1960 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	408
9. Overthrowing Everything: 1961–1976 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	448
Part 4: China Rising
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	487
10. Reform and Opening: 1977–1989 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	491
11. Overall Advance: 1990–2012 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	527
12. Ambitions and Anxieties: Contemporary China Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	560
Abbreviations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	617
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	619
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	695
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	701

Language: English
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Audience: General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 670
Keywords: Chinese Communist Party; Beijing Student Movement; Chiang Kai-shek; collectivization; Cultural Revolution; Deng Xiaoping; Guangzhou; Jiang Zemin; Lin Biao; Manchuria; Mao Zedong; Guomindang; GMD; New Democracy; PRC; Qing; Heavenly Kingdom

eBook

Published: January 14, 2019
ISBN: 9780674916067