The Search for Modern China by Jonathan D. Spence (PDF)

Description

“A remarkable achievement…vivid…fluent, graceful…. A publishing event.”―Boston Globe In this widely acclaimed history of modern China, Jonathan Spence achieves a fine blend of narrative richness and efficiency. Praised as “a miracle of readability and scholarly authority,” (Jonathan Mirsky) The Search for Modern China offers a matchless introduction to China’s history.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: From Publishers Weekly Spence advocates democracy in China and presents contemporary views of its oppressive history, including Chiang Kai-Shek’s fascist supporters and the bloodbath known as the Cultural Revolution. “A splendid achievement, this sweeping . . . epic chronicle compresses four centuries of political and social change into a sharply observant narrative,” said PW . Photos. Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. From School Library Journal YA –The difficulty of finding a complete, one-volume history of China is no longer a problem with publication of this work, which covers Chinese history from the 16th-century Ming Dynasty to the 1989 “China Spring” demonstrations. The 200+ photographs and illustrations, many in color and previously unpublished, include historical notes that add understanding to the art and the stories illustrated. The text is written in an informative manner that will appeal to students; their lack of knowledge of Chinese history is forstalled by the comprehensive glossary that explains phrases, people, and events. High-school teachers will bless you for buying this well-researched volume.-Dolores Steinhauer, Jefferson Sci-Tech, Alexandria, VACopyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. Review “Monumental…. History that is always lively, always concrete, always comprehensible.” ― New York Times”History at its best…all in the vivid, accessible style for which the author is well known.” ― Washington Post Book World About the Author Jonathan D. Spence (1936―2021) was Sterling Professor of History at Yale University, where he taught for more than forty years. He was awarded MacArthur and Guggenheim Fellowships, and the Los Angeles Times Book Award. The Search for Modern China won the Lionel Gelber Award and the Kiriyama Book Prize. Read more

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐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.

⭐I’m learning Chinese and have a shelf full of books about China which I’ve recently been plowing through. One of the book I read was “The Death of Woman Wang,” by Jonathan D. Spence, the author of “The Search for Modern China.” I checked the book out of the library, and was so impressed by it that I decided to buy it and absorb it at my own speed, not the reading speed imposed by the library due date. This is a richly researched book. Since China is one of the world’s oldest civilizations, the search for modern begins in the 1600’s. This is not an easy read, but it’s worth the effort if you’re interested in China.

⭐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

⭐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.

⭐Here are a couple points to keep in mind.1) China is roughly the same size as the US2) China had civilization before the US1 + 2 = china has more history than the UShow do you make sense of it though, and I think that’s where this book tries to help you out.each chapter has an overview with some pics and then gets into details.

⭐Probably the most useful, one-volume history of Ming and post-Ming China. Well crafted with appropriate profiles of many of the leading players.Helpful in understanding current China’s many internal (and external)issues. Place your bets on whether China’s communism collapses first or whether they attack the U.S. first…As may be the case, a terrific history and vital to understanding a county still looking over its shoulder at the effects of Western and Japanese imperialism.

⭐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.

⭐The content is nice but the cover is shabby. Maybe it should not be described as a “very good condition”.

⭐The Search for Modern China is the work everyone recommends on modern Chinese history, written by a prominent academic and sinologist yet aimed at the general public, detailed enough at 700+ pages yet hugely ambitious in dealing with four hundred years’ worth of Chinese events. Essentially a political history, the book moreover weaves in cultural and economic observations and data. This also has more coherence than volumes such as the Cambridge series, which are the work of multiple contributors.It is worth noting that Spence is better known in academia for his cultural work, such as on Matteo Ricci’s mission or the seventeenth-century woman Wang. The Search for Modern China keeps in certain respects to this mould, taking for premise the quest for modernity, and this casts a certain light on the narrative. Thus while modernity itself was a Western concept, seventeenth-century China was in some ways just as modern, or more so, than any Western model – e.g. its meritocratic administration. One wonders whether Spence may have overstated the importance of interaction with Europe, especially in the earlier years, and the extent to which modernity was necessarily an import. To take a more specific example, the all-important revolution of 1911-12 seems to have been a Chinese against Manchu uprising as much as a lurch into political modernisation. The Rise of Modern China may underplay the continuity and tenacity of hostility to a dynasty perceived as foreign: the success of revolution of 1912, indeed, is difficult to understand based on the information provided in the preceding chapters. A related problem is perhaps that Spence grants far fewer pages to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries than to the rest – surprisingly for an early modernist. Half of the book takes place after the Long March of 1935.As the author hints in the introduction, this also remains in some ways a work in progress. The sources, one senses, simply remain quite imperfect. This seems to have led Spence to rely on official history, especially on communist China. Much detail is invested, for example, in socialist reforms that all sound the same, and in the minutia of administrative change and counter-change. Meanwhile, the Great Leap Forward, probably one of the great world tragedies of the twentieth century, is discussed over four pages, and why it backfired so badly is not made clear. The economic picture also remains reliant on examples drawn from party politics and their sterile, or counter-productive, debates. How collectivisation affected everyday life and work could have been made more explicit without adding to the book’s length. At the same time, that much modern Chinese history can continue to be shrouded in obscurity or controversy illustrates how fascinating a subject this remains. The objections raised here are, moreover, but minor quibbles, and while The Search is not stylistically quite up to Spence’s other works, it makes for gripping reading. This is an engrossing history, and the food for much reflection on China both past and contemporary.

⭐a fine product, fit for purpose and excellent delivery service. Thank you Amazon.

⭐A stunning book.Well written and eye-opening.Truly innovative !

⭐useful and comprehensive

⭐Fun and comprehensive.

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