The Search for Modern China

by Jonathan D. Spence (Author)

107 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0091744724

ISBN-10: 0091744725

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Covers over 4 centuries of Chinese history, from the waning days of the once-glorious Ming Dynasty to Deng Xiao-Ping's bloody suppression of the pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square. Through the ideas and emotions of its reformist Confucian scholars, its poets, novelists, artists and its visionary students, we see a culture struggling to define itself as Chinese and modern. Through the actions of the great Qing emperors and the dominant figures of this century - Mao Zedong, Chiang Kai-Shek, Zhou Enlai, Deng Xiao-Ping - we see a state struggling to establish harmony within, and its autonomy in the world. Through the daily work of survival and their collective bursts of rebellion and revolution - 1644, 1850, 1911, 1949, 1989 - we see the Chinese people struggling to remake their lives.

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Product details

Hardcover: 876 pages
Publisher: Hutchinson (May 17, 1990)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0091744725
ISBN-13: 978-0091744724
Package Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.6 x 2.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 3.7 pounds
Average Customer Review: 107 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,778,951 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #14891 in Books > Textbooks > Humanities > History > Asia
- #17995 in Books > History > Asia > China

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EBP

*The* classic introduction to Chinese history

July 29, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Just a fantastic record of Chinese history for English language readers. Whether you are a student just learning about China for the first time, someone professionally working in China who would like to learn more of the history, or a scholar of another area seeking context for the region, I can't recommend Spence highly enough. Readable, grounded, and scholarly.

7 people found this helpful

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Yersin USA

Comprehensive and edifying

May 10, 2014

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Spence covers the centuries of China's last dynasty, the Qing (Ch'ing), the efforts to establish republican government, the warlord era, and the rise of the Communist movement.

The combination of narrative and analysis reminds me of the volumes in the Oxford History of the United States series. Spence provides not only a comprehensive account of historic events, but he pauses at each juncture to introduce us to prominent individuals and explain how events were experienced by peasants, merchants, warlords, officials, and reformers.

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Sam S.

Favorite book on the rise of Modern China

December 4, 2012

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I took a Modern Chinese History course with Professor Yeh at UC Berkeley. A large portion of her class is based around this book. The book does a wonderful job of explaining the timeline of modern Chinese history and all the major events. It describes and analyzes all the big major events such as end of the Ming Dynasty, Opium Wars, The Boxer Uprising, arrival of communism in China and Soviet influence. I especially liked the later chapters about the Cultural Revolution, the behind the curtain workings of the Mao regime and the rise of the free market economy with the resurrection of Deng Xiaoping. I definitely learned a lot from this book and will not be reselling my copy.

4 people found this helpful

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September 20, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

A comprehensive treatment of the history it covers. A textbook that reads like a novel. A great read.

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Friend of Hobbits

Good for lecture writing or as the main text.

April 22, 2014

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I used Spence to help me build a lecture quickly for my World History class. The prose is very readable and provides interesting information and "flavor."

My colleague recommends it as a good introductory text for a specialized class on Chinese history as well but I have not used this text in that capacity.

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Will

Incredible wealth of knowledge. Spence's writing is impeccably clear ...

February 15, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Incredible wealth of knowledge. Spence's writing is impeccably clear and never dry. He doesn't provide much narrative but it's understandable due to the sheer amount of material he covers.

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September 11, 2018

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Very interesting book. If you want to learn about history of china since the end of Ming dynasty, this book is excellent. Very well written, even though it is a test book, it is still read as novel. I'm still reading it and enjoying it 100 percent

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Christopher Tricarick

Far better than others in its category!

September 5, 2009

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

So many people have said generally true and good things about this book that it would be foolish for me to repeat it all here. When I was living in China in a place where I had no access to English books I asked a friend to send me books about China, and I got three "survey" type books--two were quite superficial and one was extremely eccentric. Compared to them this is the gold standard. It is still a survey, with all the faults of the genre, and a very-indepth survey which sometimes seems to ask for complaints from both sides: too much information about something that doesn't interest you and not enough information about what does. And I agree: although the book is divided into three almost equal parts, covering respectively the whole Ch'ing dynasty, the ROC period, and the People's Republic, in the last third, despite having the smallest amount of time to cover, he does seem to skip lightly over things like the cultural revolution that should have recieved more detailed attention. But I suppose the Cultural Revolution was a little world in itself--to do it justice as a topic would have required a seperate book.

Important note: the first and second editions differ substantially. I read the first, which was written shortly after the Tiananmen Square massacre, and I think this distorts the perspective a bit. The last section of the book is all written as a prelude to that event, and that event ends the book, with an ominous note that the CCP may not be able to control the country much longer. The event is described in tremendous detail, and a whole section of photographs is devoted to it. I was a high school student in 1989, and I remember very well how huge the event seemed to us at the time--and in fact was. But from the perspective of today all of this seems quite off-balance. Therefore I would very much recommend the first edition if you are interested in Tiananmen Square: as a document of that event and the way it was viewed from abroad, it is valuable. But if you are looking for a more balanced view of the modern period I imagine the second edition would be better. Having said that, I get the impression that the first two-thirds of this book are really where its strengths lie.

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