In this Second Edition of his widely acclaimed history of modern China, Jonathan Spence achieves a fine blend of narrative richness and efficiency. The text is tighter throughout and up-to-date on the most important scholarship in the field. The new discussions in this thorough revision include the extension of imperial power into central Asia by the eighteenth-century emperors, women's literacy and education in the Qing, the early development of Chinese nationalism, the roots of Chinese communism and alternatives to Mao, the early stages of the Great Leap Forward and of the Cultural Revolution. There is a new chapter at the end of the book on economic, cultural, and political developments since 1989. Praised as "a miracle of readability and scholarly authority," (Jonathan Mirsky) The Search for Modern China offers students a matchless introduction to China's history.
Price: $47.89
User Reviews about The Search for Modern China (Second Edition)
Like the other reviewers, I love Spence's work in the Ming and Ching dynasties. Books on Kang Xi, Mateo Ricci, Yong Zheng, those were all great books that come alive. Same for this book up to the PRC period, when it really falls down. I think it is the author's bias in favor of the communist movement. Personally, I think the PRC from 1949 to 1989 has been 20% correct and 80% wrong/totally messed up, to use the Chinese anlalogy. Just visit Taiwan or Hong Kong, free Chinese societies, to see the huge difference. Forturnately for Taiwan, Japan, HK and Korea, Mao and his gang of thugs kept the PRC opressed for 40 years, giving free societies such a leg up.
-- Stick to ancient Chinese history
it's a really easy and interesting history book for a Chinese history beginner to read. -- easy history book to read
I fell in love with China when I was five years old, through the Golden Book Chinese Fairy Tales. What a joy to recapture that love in reading Spence's book.
As you know, there are many writers about China, and frankly it should be an axiom that once you go to China, you become Chinese. It MAKES you Chinese. Yet, most of the writers are too -- what's the right word, pedantic? -- so you miss 'being there' as you read. It's impossible to understand Chinese Communism, if you don't understand CHINA.
You will 'be there', when you read Spence. Then you will understand. -- Riveting
This was a very good book to get an general view on Chinese history.
The writer follows the mainstream view on history. I also read Mao, the untold story. That gives a more revisionist view on history. Very good to compare and it would be good if the writer of this book could incorporate some of these views.
Gerrit vd Berg
traveling in china -- pleasant book
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. -- Far better than others in its category!
