China: A Modern History

Description

China's transformation in the last few decades has been perhaps the most remarkable -- and most controversial -- development in modern history. Barely a century removed from the struggling and out-dated Qing Empire, China has managed to reinvent itself on an unprecedented scale: from Empire, to Communist state, to hybrid capitalist superpower. Yet the full implications of China’s rapid march to modernity are not widely understood -- particularly, the effects of China’s meteoric rise on the nation’s many ethnic minorities. China: A Modern History is the definitive guide to this complex contemporary phenomenon. Deng Xiaoping’s 1980s policy of 'reform and opening," which saw China enter the world market, is only the most recent in a series of dramatic shifts that have transformed Chinese society over the past 150 years. China: A Modern History explores these contrasts in detail, while also highlighting the enduring values which have informed Chinese identity for millennia. Michael Dillon’s China: A Modern History is essential reading for those interested in the past, present and future course of one of the world’s great nations. Clearly and compellingly written, this will stand as the best introduction to this spectacular and still-unfinished story.   CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS NOTE ON ROMANISATION INTRODUCTION 1. RISE AND FALL OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE 2. CHINA AND THE WEST: THE ROAD TO THE OPIUM WAR 3. TAIPING, NIAN AND MUSLIM UPRISINGS (1850 - 1884) 4. RESTORATION AND WESTERN COLONISATION (1856-1898) 5. BOXER RISING AND IMPERIAL DECLINE (1899-1911) 6. STRUGGLE FOR THE REPUBLIC OF CHINA (1911-1916) 7. MAY FOURTH MOVEMENT: COMMUNISTS AND NATIONALISTS (1917-1924) 8. NORTHERN EXPEDITION AND UNITED FRONT (1923-1927) 9. NANJING DECADE AND THE LONG MARCH (1927-1937) 10. JAPANESE INVASION, SECOND UNITED FRONT AND CIVIL WAR (1937-1949) INTERLUDE: NEW CHINA, NEW HISTORY? 11. LIBERATION AND THE BIRTH OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA (1949-1954) 12. ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL POLICIES (1950-1957) 13. GREAT LEAP FORWARD (1958-1965) 14. CULTURAL REVOLUTION (1966-1980) 15. MODERNISING AND OPENING CHINA 16. TIBET AND XINJIANG 17. HONG KONG AND TAIWAN 18. CHINA AFTER DENG XIAOPING CONCLUSION: CHINA RISING AND A 'HARMONIOUS SOCIETY' NOTES BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES FURTHER READING INDEX