The Power of Position: Beijing University, Intellectuals, and Chinese Political Culture, 1898-1929

Throughout the twentieth century, Beijing University (or Beida) has been at the center of China's greatest political and cultural upheavals—from the May Fourth Movement of 1919 to the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s to the tragic events in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Why this should be—how Beida's historical importance has come to transcend that of a mere institution of higher learning—is a question at the heart of this book. A study of intellectuals and political culture during the past cen...