Modern china (1st ed )

Authors:

Language: English
Cover of the book Modern china (1st ed )

Approximative price 50.62 €

In Print (Delivery period: 12 days).

Add to cartAdd to cart
Publication date:
528 p. · 20.3x25.4 cm · Paperback

Why another book on China? Four reasons: Thisbook places a special emphasis on China's culture, warfare, and immediate neighbors, while its organization provides structural convenience not found in other surveys of modern Chinese history.


First, thisbook uses a comparative approach to bridge the cultural divide separating Chinese history from Western readers trying to understand it. It compares the embedded assumptions, patterns of analysis, and primary values that distinguish these two great civilizations, not to suggest the superiority of either but rather, to reach a Western audience, who may be unaware that many of their core assumptions and values are not shared by others. This is not an attempt to understand China in its own terms, but in comparison to the West so as to bridge the cultural divide.

Second, this book emphasizes the tragic role of warfare in Chinese history. Far more so than in most other countries, warfare has wracked Chinese society for the last two centuries: A cascade of internal rebellions, secession movements, and civil and foreign wars continued with only short interruptions from 1800 until the death of Mao Zedong in 1976. On a human level, it is incumbent on this and succeeding generations not to forget the holocaust that has been a hallmark of modern Chinese history.

Third, all too often the study of China has been done in semi-isolation from its neighbors. The authors of this book have spent years living not only in China and Taiwan, but also in Russia and Japan, and have visited South Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Modern Chinese history cannot be understood without a deep appreciation of the foreign influence that has bombarded China from all sides. Western texts generally give due attention to the Western European powers and to the United States. Some devote time to discussing the Japanese influence. None gives adequate attention to the activities of Russia. Most Western Sinologists do not read Russian, nor do most Chinese secondary sources emphasize Russia's extensive influence because Russian diplomats from the 19th century onward consistently succeeded in promoting their country's national interests at Chinese expense. On a human level, this is not a story many Chinese want to tell. On a national level, Sino-Russian relations are so central to China's national security that the topic is generally classified. The authors learned about Russo-Chinese relations from years of research in the archives of Russia, China, Taiwan, Japan, and the United States reading materials covering Russo-Chinese diplomatic relations from the 18th through the 20th centuries.

Contents

List of Maps

List of Features

List of Tables

Preface

Acknowledgments

Technical Note

About the Authors

Introduction A Cultural Framework for Understanding China

I. Top-down Characteristics: Confucianism, Militarism, Legalism, and Sinification

II. Radial Characteristics: Sinocentrism, Barbarian Management, and the Provincial System

III. Bottom-up Characteristics: Daoism, Buddhism, and Poetry

IV. Cyclical Elements: Yin and Yang, the Dynastic Cycle, and Historical Continuity

V. Retrospective Elements: Fate and the Sources of Knowledge

Conclusions

PART I The Creation and Maturation of an Empire, 1644 1842 26

Chapter 1 The Creation of the Qing Dynasty

I. The Ming Dynasty

II. The Qing Conquest of Ming China: Nurgaci and His Successors

III. Grafting the Manchus onto Han China under the Shunzhi Emperor

IV. Territorial Consolidation under the Kangxi Emperor

V. Institutional Consolidation under the Yongzheng Emperor

Conclusions

Chapter 2 The Maximization of Empire under the Qianlong Emperor

I. The Conquest of the Zunghar Mongols

II. The Conquest of the Tarim Basin and Tibet

III. Qing Imperial Administration: The Tributary System

IV. Domestic Administration: Central and Local Government

V. The Economy of an Empire: Agriculture, Commerce, and Taxation

Conclusions

Chapter 3 Chinese Society at the Zenith of the Qing Dynasty

I. Manchu and Han Society

II. The Four Social Groups: Scholars, Peasants, Artisans, and Merchants

III. The Legal System

IV. Confucianism as an Ideology

V. Shamanism, Confucianism, and Buddhism as Instruments of Manchu Rule

Conclusions

Chapter 4 The Foundations of Knowledge

I. Fidelity to the Past

II. The Confucian Classics

III. Thinking by Historical Analogy

IV. Understanding the Natural World

V. The Examination System

Conclusions

Chapter 5 The Arrival of the West

I. Early Explorers

II. The Maritime Advance: Portugal, Spain, Holland, and England

III. The Continental Advance: Russia

IV. The Legal and Religious Sources of Cultural Conflict

V. The Technological Revolution

Conclusions

Chapter 6 Systemic Crisis and Dynastic Decline

I. Government Corruption and Manchu Decadence

II. Population Growth, Ethnic Tensions, and the Miao Revolt

III. The White Lotus Rebellion and the Eight Trigrams Revolt

IV. Imperial Overextension

V. Qing Attempts to Restore Governmental Efficacy

Conclusions

Chapter 7 Expanding Commercial Relations with the West

I. The Tea Trade and the Silver Inflow

II. The Opium Trade and the Silver Outflow

III. The British Rejection of Sinification

IV. Chinese Strategy and the First Opium War

V. The Treaty of Nanjing: Treaty Ports, Tariffs, and North South Tensions

Conclusions

PART II Dynastic Decline and Collapse, 1842 1911

Chapter 8 Civil War and Foreign Intervention

I. North South Tensions and the Origins of the Taiping Rebellion

II. The Taiping Movement

III. The Taiping Capital in Nanjing

IV. The Arrow War

V. Manchu Western Cooperation to Destroy the Taipings

Conclusions

Chapter 9 Quelling Domestic Rebellions

I. The