Table of Contents
Century China: A Pictorial History of Modern China in 100 Years | Introduction
China in the Century is co-authored by Mr. and Mrs. Shi Jingqian and Jin Anping. The book covers a century of Chinese history from the late 19th century to the end of the 20th century (1894-1994), from the end of the Qing Dynasty to the Communist regime shift, the Cultural Revolution, and modern China (30 years ago), and provides an in-depth description of the political changes in the whole of mainland China. Jonathan Dermot Spence (real name Jonathan Dermot Spence) was a famous British historian who died at the end of last year. During his lifetime, he taught in the Department of History at Yale University, specializing in Chinese history, and was widely regarded as the most influential historian since the sixteenth century. The co-author, An-Ping Jin, was born in Taiwan, and was also a historian teaching at Yale University. With more than 300 rare historical photographs and Shi Jingqian's well-known storytelling technique, the book is suitable for readers who are interested in Chinese history.
This book is showing up as out of print here on the blog, but I can still find the ebook version on Amazon. The link is placed below.
Online bookstore looking for Century China : An Iconographic History of a Century of Modern China?
Century China: A Pictorial History of Modern China in 100 Years | After Reading
A hundred years of history is not a short period of time. The transition of modern China from the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, and then from the Republic of China to the rule of the Chinese Communist Party, has been described by historians in such a way that one can change one's understanding of this period of history from the chapters and sections of textbooks to the threads of a continuous flow. The interesting thing about reading modern history is that many of the events are still familiar to us, and sometimes a more in-depth description of certain events and observation of them in the context of history can inspire new ideas, making us see the present in the light of the past, and invariably enabling us to have a more comprehensive observation and understanding of the events that are now taking place.
A hundred years of history is a long time, and there are a lot of thoughts that come to mind when reading, so here are just a few excerpts.
Transformation of the imperial system from the late Qing Dynasty to the Republican system
The constitutional monarchy vs. democratic republic in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China was not just a tug-of-war between Empress Dowager Cixi and the Revolutionary Party, but also two different voices in the society. Rereading this period of history, it is clear that the transformation of China's system under an ancient imperial culture was not just a matter of a few revolutions, or a series of successes and failures. In fact, just like the independence of the United States, there were also voices in favor of a constitutional monarchy in China at that time, otherwise there would not have been the restoration of Zhang Xun and others after the founding of the Republic of China. (Pu Yi was really unlucky to have been "restored" several times.)
In detail, the end of the Qing Dynasty was a bit random, but also seemed to be the inevitable result of the times. At that time, China was weak and the people were dissatisfied with their lives. On the one hand, the imperial court opened ports and sent young people abroad because of the defeat of the war, and on the other hand, it caught up with the wave of nationalism in China as the knowledge of the West entered the country. Instead of saying that the end of the Qing Dynasty was due to the people's quest for democracy, it is better to say that it was the result of the Chinese people's anti-Qing sentiments, which was brought about by China's weakness. Had the imperial family been Han Chinese, or had there been a strong Han family, would there have been a change to another form of imperial or autocratic regime? The period of warlordism after the founding of the Republic of China is a clear manifestation of the psychological division of China, which did not know what to do with itself at that time.
Transition from Kuomintang to Communist rule
The portrayal of the Communist Civil War and the Anti-Japanese period clearly shows how a series of miscalculations and characterizations by the leadership of the time, namely Chiang Kai-shek, caused the Kuomintang to lose the hearts and minds of the people, and how the Communist Party had a firm grip on and nurtured the grass-roots cadres and the party-centered political narratives from the very beginning. The Chinese Communists did win over the Chinese mainland, and Chiang Kai-shek's failure to bring about a change in China's economic situation, the eventual aversion to war among its military and civilian population, and its longstanding habit of pillaging the population were all contributing factors.
China under the Communist Party
The book ends in 1994, almost 30 years ago. The English version of the book was published as early as 1996, but the Chinese version will only be published in 2020, making it a new book. Rereading this history of the past 100 years in 2022, and the author's observations of modern history around 1996, does give us some food for thought. In 1996, China's move towards a market economy was still a work in progress, and Western historians were very optimistic about China's move towards freedom and openness. The very impressive changes that have taken place in China over the past thirty years are not part of this narrative.
Looking back after 30 years, one can still feel how the Chinese political culture has been deeply influenced by the Communist Party's way of governance since Mao Zedong. The Cultural Revolution and the Red Guard era of the Communist Party of China during the Mao Zedong era may seem irrational to outsiders, but the development of the Communist Party's modus operandi during the Civil War period makes it possible to understand its origins. For outsiders who are accustomed to the European and American modes of social operation and values, an understanding of this period of Chinese history is the basis for understanding the differences between modern Chinese society and other powerful cultures.
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