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Title: China: A New History by John King Fairbank, Merle Goldman ISBN: 0-674-11673-9 Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr Pub. Date: May, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.55 (11 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Great Introduction to China
Comment: Specialists in Chinese history and culture will not learn anything from this book. But that's not why it was written. Westerners are very ignorant of Chinese history, and this book is a good introduction to the big themes in China--government and protest, economic development and poverty, the influence of the West, education, and more. For example, the mistrust of China's government of Falun Gong is much more understandable when you know about the earlier religion-based revolutions and civil wars in Chinese history, which I'm sure the President of the United States is not aware of, despite his well-meaning platitudes about freedom of religion. I enjoyed this book greatly and reread portions often.
Rating: 3
Summary: A Good Basic History!
Comment: I agree with the many different comments people have had for this book. It contains a lot of information, its very dull at times, and it does not go into great depth all the time.
The bottom line is that is exactly what this book is. Its a short basic history of China. This is more of a reference book than a specific look at a very specific event.
No, China experts will not be in love with this book. But anyone looking for a survey of Chinese History or looking for a decent desk/bookcase reference book on China will find this book useful.
Rating: 4
Summary: Great History; Great Writing
Comment: This, along with Wing-Tsit Chan's A SOURCE BOOK IN CHINESE PHILOSOPHY provided my first serious look at Chinese culture.
Fairbank's CHINA details the development of China from earliest times through the Tiananmen massacre: Xia & Shang, Zhou, the Spring and Autumn period, the Warring States period, the Qin Unification, the Han dynasty, disintegration, the subsequent rise of Sia and Tang dynasties, disintegration and the rise of the Song, the Northern and Southern Song along with the development of the kingdoms and empires of the Mongols who slowly conquered China, the Ming dynasty that expelled the Mongols, the Manchurian Qing dynasty that conquered all China and ruled until China became a Republic, Sun Yatsen, Jiang Jieshi (Chiang Kaishek), fascism and communism, the rise of Mao and the Nationalist flight to Taiwan, the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution and Deng Xiaphing (Dong Zai-phong).
Of special interest are discussions on the rise of Confucianism, Daoism, Chinese Buddhism and Christian in-roads created by missionaries; the respective roles of Legalism, early imperial Confucianism and neo-Confucianism in the formation and evolution of the Chinese state; the horrors and extent of foot-binding among Chinese women; the influence of both communists and fascists in the Guomindang party and the open conflict between the "blue shirt" fascists (formed by Chiang Kaishek) and the Communist party; and the role of the USSR and Comintern in the development and organization of Communism in China (originally in the Guomindang and later in the Chinese Communist Party).
Thought-provoking and interesting, the book does suffer from infrequent flaws such as irrelevant personal attacks (e.g., Reaganesque = simple-minded) and giving too little details in some areas. Despite these (and the fact that the author once thought Maoisim the greatest thing to happen in China for centuries), anyone interested in Chinese history cannot afford to pass up this important work.
It should also be noted that the earlier edition's last chapter was replaced by essays from other authors in the revised addition.
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Title: The Great Chinese Revolution 1800-1985 by John King Fairbank ISBN: 006039076X Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: 09 October, 1987 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: The Search for Modern China by Jonathan D. Spence ISBN: 0393307808 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: October, 2001 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: The Cambridge Illustrated History of China by Patricia Buckley Ebrey ISBN: 052166991X Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 13 May, 1999 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: A Concise History of China by J. A. G. Roberts ISBN: 0674000757 Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr Pub. Date: December, 1999 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: Chinese Civilization : A Sourcebook, 2nd Ed by Patricia Buckley Ebrey ISBN: 002908752X Publisher: Free Press Pub. Date: 10 May, 1993 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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