China: A New History, Second Enlarged Edition / Edition 2

by John King Fairbank, Merle Goldman

Overview

John King Fairbank was the West's doyen on China, and this book is the full and final expression of his lifelong engagement with this vast ancient civilization. It remains a masterwork without parallel. The distinguished historian Merle Goldman brings the book up to date, covering reforms in the post-Mao period through the early years of the twenty-first century, including the leadership of Hu Jintao. She also provides an epilogue discussing the changes in contemporary China that will shape the nation in the years to come.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674018280
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	04/30/2006
Edition description:	Second Enlarged Edition
Pages:	640
Sales rank:	437,495
Product dimensions:	6.42(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.25(d)

About the Author

John King Fairbank was Francis Lee Higginson Professor of History and Director of the East Asian Research Center at Harvard University.

Merle Goldman is Professor of History, Emerita, at Boston University and Associate of The Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University.

Table of Contents

	Preface to the Enlarged Edition	xv
	Preface to the Original Edition	xvii
	Introduction: Approaches to Understanding China's History	1
	The Variety of Historical Perspectives	1
	Geography: The Contrast of North and South	4
	Humankind in Nature	14
	The Village: Family and Lineage	17
	Inner Asia and China: The Steppe and the Sown	23
Part 1	Rise and Decline of the Imperial Autocracy	27
1	Origins: The Discoveries of Archaeology	29
	Paleolithic China	29
	Neolithic China	31
	Excavation of Shang and Xia	33
	The Rise of Central Authority	37
	Western Zhou	39
	Implications of the New Archaeological Record	40
2	The First Unification: Imperial Confucianism	46
	The Utility of Dynasties	46
	Princes and Philosophers	49
	The Confucian Code	51
	Daoism	53
	Unification by Qin	54
	Consolidation and Expansion under the Han	57
	Imperial Confucianism	62
	Correlative Cosmology	64
	Emperor and Scholars	66
3	Reunification in the Buddhist Age	72
	Disunion	72
	The Buddhist Teaching	73
	Sui-Tang Reunification	76
	Buddhism and the State	79
	Decline of the Tang Dynasty	81
	Social Change: The Tang-Song Transition	83
4	China's Greatest Age: Northern and Southern Song	88
	Efflorescence of Material Growth	88
	Education and the Examination System	93
	The Creation of Neo-Confucianism	96
	Formation of Gentry Society	101
5	The Paradox of Song China and Inner Asia	108
	The Symbiosis of Wen and Wu	108
	The Rise of Non-Chinese Rule over China	112
	China in the Mongol Empire	119
	Interpreting the Song Era	126
6	Government in the Ming Dynasty	128
	Legacies of the Hongwu Emperor	128
	Fiscal Problems	132
	China Turns Inward	137
	Factional Politics	140
7	The Qing Success Story	143
	The Manchu Conquest	143
	Institutional Adaptation	146
	The Jesuit Interlude	151
	Growth of Qing Control in Inner Asia	152
	The Attempted Integration of Polity and Culture	154
Part 2	Late Imperial China, 1600-1911	163
8	The Paradox of Growth without Development	167
	The Rise in Population	167
	Diminishing Returns of Farm Labor	170
	The Subjection of Women	173
	Domestic Trade and Commercial Organization	176
	Merchant-Official Symbiosis	179
	Limitations of the Law	183
9	Frontier Unrest and the Opening of China	187
	The Weakness of State Leadership	187
	The White Lotus Rebellion, 1796-1804	189
	Maritime China: Origins of the Overseas Chinese	191
	European Trading Companies and the Canton Trade	195
	Rebellion on the Turkestan Frontier, 1826-1835	197
	Opium and the Struggle for a New Order at Guangzhou, 1834-1842	198
	Inauguration of the Treaty Century after 1842	201
10	Rebellion and Restoration	206
	The Great Taiping Rebellion, 1851-1864	206
	Civil War	209
	The Qing Restoration of the 1860s	212
	Suppression of Other Rebellions	214
11	Early Modernization and the Decline of Qing Power	217
	Self-Strengthening and Its Failure	217
	The Christian-Confucian Struggle	221
	The Reform Movement	224
	The Boxer Rising, 1898-1901	230
	Demoralization	232
12	The Republican Revolution, 1901-1916	235
	A New Domestic Balance of Power	235
	Suppressing Rebellion by Militarization	236
	Elite Activism in the Public Sphere	238
	The Japanese Influence	240
	The Qing Reform Effort	241
	Constitutionalism and Self-Government	244
	Insoluble Systemic Problems	247
	The Revolution of 1911 and Yuan Shikai's Dictatorship	250
Part 3	The Republic of China, 1912-1949	255
13	The Quest for a Chinese Civil Society	257
	The Limits of Chinese Liberalism	257
	The Limits of Christian Reformism	260
	The Tardy Rise of a Political Press	262
	Academic Development	263
	The New Culture Movement	266
	The May Fourth Movement	267
	Rise of the Chinese Bourgeoisie	269
	Origins of the Chinese Communist Party	275
14	The Nationalist Revolution and the Nanjing Government	279
	Sun Yatsen and the United Front	279
	The Accession to Power of Jiang Jieshi (Chiang Kaishek)	283
	The Nature of the Nanjing Government	286
	Systemic Weaknesses	289
15	The Second Coming of the Chinese Communist Party	294
	Problems of Life on the Land	294
	Rural Reconstruction	299
	The Rise of Mao Zedong	301
	The Long March, 1934-1935	305
	The Role of Zhou Enlai	307
	The Second United Front	310
16	China's War of Resistance, 1937-1945	312
	Nationalist Difficulties	312
	Mao's Sinification of Marxism	316
	Mao Zedong Thought	321
	The Rectification Campaign of 1942-1944	323
	American Support of Coalition Government	326
17	The Civil War and the Nationalists on Taiwan	331
	Why the Nationalists Failed	331
	Nationalist Attack and Communist Counterattack	334
	Taiwan as a Japanese Colony	337
	Taiwan as the Republic of China	339
Part 4	The People's Republic of China	343
18	Establishing Control of State and Countryside	345
	Creating the New State, 1949-1953	345
	Collectivizing Agriculture	352
	Collective Agriculture in Practice	354
	Beginning Industrialization	357
	Education and the Intellectuals	359
	The Anti-Rightist Campaign, 1957-1958	365
19	The Great Leap Forward, 1958-1960	368
	Background Factors	368
	The Disaster of 1959-1960	372
	Revival: Seizing Control of Industrial Labor	374
	Party Rectification and Education	376
	The Sino-Soviet Split	378
	The Great Leap Forward as a Social Movement	380
20	The Cultural Revolution, 1966-1976	383
	Underpinnings	383
	Mao's Aims and Resources	385
	Role of the People's Liberation Army	387
	How the Cultural Revolution Unfolded	389
	The Red Guards	392
	The Seizure of Power	393
	Foreign Affairs	395
	Decentralization and the Third Front	397
	The Succession Struggle	400
	The Cultural Revolution in Retrospect	401
	Aftermath	404
21	The Post-Mao Reform Era	406
	Epilogue: China at the Close of the Century	457
	Note on Romanization and Citation	472
	Suggested Reading	473
	Publisher's Note	429
	Illustration Credits	531
	Author Index	535
	General Index	545

What People are Saying About This

This new edition is superb. The interpretative themes structuring Goldman's concluding chapter are strong and convincing. Illuminating comparisons are drawn between the Deng Xiaoping and earlier eras. Although not soft-pedaling the insistently authoritarian character of China's leadership in the political realm, Goldman takes due note of the impressive gains in personal freedom that marked the Deng years. A compelling history. Authoritative, cogent, and skillful.

Editorial Reviews

Manages to tell its sprawling, turbulent, 4,000-year story in a single volume without either losing clarity or oversimplifying its subject...Rich and fascinating.

San Francisco Chronicle - Arnold R. Isaacs

Will serve for decades to come as a standard reference and textbook.

Robert L. Worden Book World

Will serve for decades to come as a standard reference and textbook.

Washington Post Book World - Robert L. Worden

Will serve for decades to come as a standard reference and textbook.
— Robert L. Worden

Washington Post Book World

Manages to tell its sprawling, turbulent, 4,000-year story in a single volume without either losing clarity or oversimplifying its subject...Rich and fascinating.
— Arnold R. Isaacs

San Francisco Chronicle

No American scholar of China was better known to the public and academia alike than Fairbank. This history of China, completed two days before his death in 1991, is a fitting final work. In covering the breadth of the country's history, from the earliest archaeological records to the present, the author is occasionally short on details, but lay readers and undergraduate students will appreciate the perceptive analysis and explanation throughout, leading to a better understanding of this complex nation, its people, and its importance in the world. Furthermore, Fairbank's command of recent research, along with an excellent bibliography, will appeal to the scholarly audience. Highly recommended. History Book Club selection.-- Kenneth W. Berger, Duke Univ. Lib., Durham, N.C.

Library Journal

The author of the acclaimed 1587: A Year of No Significance takes a fresh look at the full sweep of Chinese history, from neolithic times to the present. He argues that, far from a simple reform, what is happening in China today is the latest step in major restructuring of a huge nation. No bibliography. Recognized for decades as the dean of Western sinologists, Fairbank died in September 1991, shortly after completing this rich and magisterial account of China and its people over the four millenia from the last neolithic days to the present. Includes a number of useful maps and 48 fascinating photos and historical illustrations on glossy stock. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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