Treading Softly: U.S. Marines in China, 1819-1949 / Edition 1

by George B. Clark

Overview

From the mid-19th century to the early Cold War, the United States has a long history with China, and that interaction has not always been positive or productive. This brief history of foreign intervention in China, viewed through the experiences of the United States Marines, examines how the occupying powers dealt with a fellow sovereign nation. In many cases this involved the partition or outright absorption of Chinese territory through naked aggression. Clark contends that, considering the past two centuries, the Chinese have good reason to distrust all foreigners, and he urges the pursuit of a badly needed rapprochement.

This is, however, also the story of the evolution of the Marine Corps as a separate service. Although an occupying force, the Marines did make considerable efforts to earn the friendship of the Chinese people. Always on the brink of extinction due to budgetary cuts and the enmity of the army and navy, the Marines managed to perform an onerous and difficult duty in a foreign land. With a resurgent China constantly testing the United States, a fellow Pacific Rim nation, every policymaker should be well aware of the often difficult history that we share and the mistakes that have been made in the past.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275970789
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	04/30/2001
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.69(d)

About the Author

GEORGE B. CLARK served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1944 to 1947, the U.S. Army from 1950 to 1952, and spent several years in the reserves for both services. Now retired, he was formerly Director of Research Administration and Research Technology Transfer at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester, Massachusetts. His other publications include Devil Dogs: Fighting Marines of World War I (1999).

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction
The Beginnings
The Boxers Rebellion
Early 20th Century
The China Marines
Back to China
Conclusion
Appendices
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

Many of the Marines there during that time, says Clark, himself in the Marines during World War II and later in the US Army, enjoyed exotic service and extravagant living, especially those of the Fourth Marines and the Peking Legation Guard. He traces the entire history of that 130 years of imperialist occupation, including the Boxer Rebellion and the return of Marines to China after World War II, where their experience by contrast was dangerous, highly unpleasant, and usually very boring. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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