Customer Reviews

The Chinese Century: A Photographic History of the Last Hundred Years

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's a surprisingly thorough and sophisticated overview of China in the 20th century for a book that at first glance looks primarily like a picture book. The text is outstanding in itself and the pictures quite original. I recommend it to those with a rudimentary knowledge of Chinese history.

This is a fascinating story of the history of China of the last hundred years intelligently interwoven with 264 rare and entertaining photos that add a unique sense of reality to the history. The authors' in-depth understanding of key historical events in China during the last century, combined with the many well chosen photos interspersed throughout the text (some of a fairly grim nature), make this a much more readable and realistic history book versus the typical history book that usually contains just a few photos crammed together into a center section. This is an oversized 264 page book printed on high quality glossy heavy paper.

This book is an invaluable resource for scholars and amateurs alike. The introductory essay orients the reader, and the photographs tell their own story.

The "reviewer" below this is clearly insane and/or has an ax to grind. As any of their Yale students could tell you, Spence and Chin are both world-class scholars whose passion is narrating the stories of modern China accessibly, entertainingly, and provocatively.

Overall, I found this book to be very informative and fun to read. Being a UCSD student and taking many classes pertaining to Asia, I read many works by Spence. By far, I have enjoyed reading every one of his works. This particular book in my opinion is the best of Spence's works-- though he cooperated with another author. Spence's works is a testament to his ability to present fact in a dynamic way. In this case, Spence uses photographs to augment his work.

And concerning the individual from Grand Rapids, Missouri (2nd Review). This individual is thoroughly ignorant and racist to say that the Chinese people "lost the sense of dignity, creativity, and are still today refusing to advance their own country by isolating from the rest of the world." China has continually engaged in the free market arena since it opened up commercially in the 1980s. According to most experts, China has the fastest growing economy in the world. On another note, this individual fails to note that there is a level of corruption in every country. Yes, we Americans have seen our fair share of corrupt cops and politicians! Overall, this individual's remark does no justice for the merit of Spence's work, and is an unjustified insult to the Chinese community.

Spence and Chin do a gripping job of capturing the anxiety, adventure, and hardship of China's twentieth century. Their photo-laden account is almost stomach-turningly dramatic, not in a shocking way, but because it conveys the vertigo of upheaval, destruction, and transformation. Perhaps no other nation, not even Russia, went through so much trauma and change in this century. And Spence and Chin's prose gives detailed insight into its stream of titanic events.

I inserted the wrong review: the owner said that the item had been damaged and refunded my amount. I gave it a low review. I didn't mean to.

A brief and mostly pictorial book about the turbulent years of Chinese history. Easy reading but informative.

Spence and Chin has done a great job compiling these rare photos and recording China's past 100 years concisely but thoroughly. This is a must read, must have book.