Modern China : the fall and rise of a great power, 1850 to the present / Jonathan Fenby.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Fenby, Jonathan.

Contributor:

Fenby, Jonathan.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

China--History--19th century.

China.

History.

China--History--20th century.

China--Politics and government--19th century.

Politics and government.

China--Politics and government--20th century.

Physical Description:

xlvii, 762 pages, 24 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps ; 24 cm

Edition:

First U.S. edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Ecco, [2008]

Summary:

No country on earth has suffered a more bitter history in modern times than China. In the second half of the nineteenth century, it was viewed as doomed to extinction. Its imperial rulers, heading an anachronistic regime, were brought low by enormous revolts, shifting social power patterns, republican revolutionaries, Western incursions to "split the Chinese melon" and a disastrous defeat by Japan.

The presence of predatory foreigners has often been blamed for China's troubles, but the much greater cause came from within China itself. In the early twentieth century, the empire was succeeded by warlordism on a massive scale, internal divisions, incompetent rule, savage fighting between the government and the Communists, and a fourteen-year invasion from Japan. Four years of civil war after 1945 led to the Maoist era, with its purges and repression; the disastrous Great Leap Forward; a famine that killed tens of millions; and the Cultural Revolution.

Yet from this long trauma, China has emerged amazingly in the last three decades as an economic powerhouse set to play a major global political role, its future posing one of the great questions for the twenty-first century as it grapples with enormous internal challenges. Understanding how that transformation came about and what China constitutes today means understanding its epic journey since 1850 and recognizing how the past influences the present.

Jonathan Fenby tells this turbulent story with brilliance and insight, spanning a unique historical panorama, with an extraordinary cast of characters and a succession of huge events. As Confucius said, To see the future, one must grasp the past.

Contents:

Note on Transliteration and Currency xiii

Part 1 End of Empire

1 Sons of Heaven 3

2 Upheavals 17

3 Strength and Weakness 34

4 Reform and Reaction 56

5 On the Ropes 79

6 Final Act 95

Part 2 Revolution and Republic

7 A Very Young Baby 119

8 Warlords 139

9 Ice and Ancient Charcoal 157

10 Divided We Stand 183

Part 3 Wars Without End

11 Enemy of the Heart 217

12 Enemy of the Skin 230

13 Mao's March 252

14 Total War 265

15 The Great Retreat 277

16 Tangled Alliance 304

17 The Last Battle 329

Part 4 The Rule of Mao

18 The Winner 353

19 Plots and Plans 376

20 Leaping to Disaster 396

21 Famine and Retreat 415

22 Demons and Monsters 440

23 All-Out Civil War 472

24 American Interlude 496

25 Only Heaven Knows 508

Part 5 The Age of Deng

26 Little Peace Plays His Trumps 531

27 To Get Rich is No Sin 552

28 Gathering Storm 574

29 Beijing Spring 588

30 Three Weeks in May 602

31 Massacre in Beijing 618

Part 6 Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao

32 The New-Old Generations 641

Who's Who in Modern China 736

The Late-Qing Emperors 741

China's Growth 1976-2006 741

China's Population 741

Communist Party Leaders in the People's Republic 741

Communist Party Organization at the Centre 742.

Notes:

"Published in Great Britain as: The Penguin history of modern China"--T.p. verso.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 683-735) and index.

Related Work:

Fenby, Jonathan. Penguin history of modern China.

ISBN:

0061661163

9780061661167

OCLC:

227984785