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China: A New History, Second Enlarged Edition Paperback – April 30, 2006
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- Print length640 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherBelknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press
- Publication dateApril 30, 2006
- Dimensions6.37 x 1.19 x 9.25 inches
- ISBN-100674018281
- ISBN-13978-0674018280
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The strengths and features of the book:
1. Gives the most comprehensive overview of Chinese history from prehistory to the modern day still to date.
2. Authoritative. This is the greatest work of the late John K. Fairbank who was a giant of Chinese studies. This revised edition also inlcludes contributions to the latest chapters from Merle Goldman, a scholar with expertise on modern China and it's economy.
3. Includes many useful maps and information tables that illuminate the text.
4. Many great photos and illustrations.
5. Coverage of China's geography, everyday life, religions and more which is something few history books do in general.
6. A detailed bibliography and invaluable resources for further reading. This is gold for students or scholars.
7. Written in a accessible and entertaining way. This book is hard to put down.
My only complaint is the book's lack of coverage of non-Chinese dynastie, states, and neighbors. This gives a lopsided account of China's history and continues to ignore the influence of ethnic groups in Chinese history. Little mention of Xinjiang or Mongolia are good examples of this. Even with all that said, I can't overstate the utter comprehensiveness and mountain of information this book contains. This is the best book on Chinese history which should be a essential read for anyone even remotely interested in China.
The extensive bibliography gives a roadmap for more detailed reading.
Think of this book as two in one: a look at the long and intricate history of the imperial dynasties, and an exploration of post-dynastic national development. With regard to pre-dynastic history, such a short read does the dynasties little justice. It leaves out many entirely, and spends mere pages on others. The book does slightly better when it explores the past century. It devotes at least some time to major movements leading up to and throughout the revolution. Where it once again falls short is in trying to explain a massively important struggle in a few words and then move onto the next. I am not completely dissatisfied with its historical coverage, however. Goldman does a great job of summarizing contemporary developments with a focused and balanced perspective. I would love for everyone outside China to read these sections, which concisely but effectively explain recent developments.
Thankfully, the book takes a largely impartial view of controversial and still-relevant issues. It fairly explains the motivations behind the CCP leaders without blaming or criticizing them. Fairbank was right to allow readers to draw their own conclusions from the facts. The epilogue, meanwhile, takes a more conclusive and opinionated stance about the future direction of the PRC. I enjoyed this section for its optimism about future change. Such positivity is grounded in the facts and figures of the preceding history.
At its beginning, the book also draws helpful comparisons between China and the West. For those with little knowledge of Asia but extensive knowledge of Europe, these links will make it easier to dive right into the content. The comparions seem reasonable, and consider the complexity of both cultural traditions.
I could accept this book as a generalized introduction to Chinese history, were it not for its pedantic and frustrating academic style. The approach is entirely off for an introductory history text, which should focus on major issues and trends. Take the book's focus on intellectuals. Intellectuals have played a unique and surprisingly volatile role in Chinese history, yet the book overstates their importance. It avoids discussion of the common people and their culture, and tends to focus on elites of all forms: the gentry-elite, the bureaucratic elite, the bourgeois elite, and others. It focuses on bureaucratic institutions, administrative structures, and economic development. Such an aristocratic perspective leaves out important details that define and continue to shape Chinese culture. To really understand why China holds so much influence in Asian history and is poised to shape the modern landscape, look elsewhere. Most of this book meanders and avoids satisfying conclusions.
Look to this book if you understand Chinese socio-cultural history but want to understand its basic political and intellectual institutions as they have developed through the ages. Do not come in without some prior knowledge, for you may be confused and and will probably not finish. For its cursory and off-putting style, I might give it one star. Goldman's additions near the end of the book earn it two. Look elsewhere for more relevant histories.
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This book is actually a second edition from the initial publication of 1996, extended into the Jiang Zemin - Hu Jintao years by a second author. This means that the book's extensive bibliography, compiled by Fairbanks, is now very dated with few titles that would be easily available today.
For whatever reason, with most histories I have read my eyes have tended to glaze over once we reach the turmoil of the post-Mao years. Merle Goldman's extension for this edition is arguably the best feature of this book as between his contribution and Fairbanks' own coverage of the Deng Xiaoping era a very precise and clear picture is presented of the various currents in Chinese society; rural and industrial economic, popular and intellectual cultural, military within and outside government. This has greatly clarified my understanding of some of the threads that crop up repeatedly among China commentators of today. For instance, with Chinese government and politics being so opaque to the outside world, or even within China itself, it is tempting for commentators to try and guess what might be going on based on previous history. In particular, the Confucian tradition is regularly cited as a way of making sense of current Chinese society and politics. However, it is apparent that while Confucian tradition is alive and somewhat well in Chinese academia, academia is still under the thumb of the Party and the Party remains too pragmatically involved with its own objectives for Confucianism to really be an explanatory factor. There are actually few to no cases where a country's present history can be reliably inferred from that of its deep past and, if we had more access to the inner workings of Chinese government, China's deep past would not be such a heavily mined source of pseudo-explanation.
While reading this I also came to a deeper view of Mao's own journey, from presumably genuine seeker of social justice to arguably the ultimate despotic monster of all history. I find myself considering at a new level the path of decision making Mao was confronted with and trying to understand those decisions that were reasonable in the circumstances, those that were lamentable but pragmatically necessary and those which were a roll of the dice by a ruthless tyrant infatuated with his own absolute power. With the only biography of Mao I have read being that of Jung/Halliday, it is too easy to presume that the dominant factor in all Mao's decision making was invariably consideration of his own power. I now feel I need to examine the events more closely and at least begin looking for the man behind the monster
So, not the best but a very worthwhile book, particularly if your interest is in modern China.
That said, it is necessary to leave out much on an complete history of China and the book is very focused on the governance, less on other aspects like economics, minorities, etc.
Also on the whole it seems to me that the book is much more deep on the period after the Europeans arrival. Some periods, as for example Ming dinasty, are a bit "light".






