History of Beijing Chapter 8 (original) (raw)
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Journal of Modern Chinese History, 2016
Among the most promising developments in the study of contemporary China has been the booming migration of historians across the 1949 divide to pioneer the new and dynamic field of the history of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Only a few years ago post-1949 China was regarded as the exclusive terrain of social scientists (political scientists, sociologists, anthropologists, economists, and psychologists). Now, lured by an array of previously inaccessible primary sources, a growing number of historians have embarked on the study of the PRC. 1 To date, the main focus of their research has been on grassroots society in the pre-Great Leap Forward period, but we can anticipate both temporal and sectoral expansion as the field matures. 2 An outstanding example of work being produced by historians of the PRC with the aid of heretofore untapped archival and other sources is Zhang Jishun's Yuanqu de dushi (A city displaced: Shanghai in the 1950s). 3 The core chapters of Professor Zhang's book are case studies of (1) the transformation of Shanghai neighborhoods, (2) the role of the urban underclass in the PRC's first general election, (3) the conversion of newspapers from private to public media, (4) the accommodation of educated elites to the new political order, and (5) the influence of cinema on the formation of a mass urban culture. While the Shanghai Municipal Archives provide the bulk of Professor Zhang's primary sources, she supplements these official materials with interviews, newspaper accounts, visual media, and other sources. The result is a more personal and human view of the effects of the Communist revolution on China's largest and most cosmopolitan city than previous scholarship had afforded. Understood from the vantage point of Shanghai residents who lived through the initial years of the PRC, including workers and shantytown dwellers as well as journalists and intellectuals, Professor Zhang's illuminating account demonstrates that 1949 marked not only a moment of rupture and new beginnings but also a continuation of many earlier practices. Moreover, different members of Shanghai society-even two brothers with virtually identical family and educational backgrounds such as Huang Jiade and Huang Jiayin-could interpret and respond to revolutionary initiatives in surprisingly different ways. 1 See http://prchistory.org/ for evidence of this trend. 2 Kirby, "Continuity and Change in Modern China," was a seminal work, stressing similarities between the PRC and the Republic of China prior to the mainland's departure from the German/Soviet model of economic planning with Mao's launch of the Great Leap Forward. While Kirby examined state industrial policy, more recent work has focused on local society.
A History of Chinaby Wolfram Eberhard
1978
The following text contains numerous non-English words containing diacritical marks not contained in the ASCII character set. Characters accented by those marks, and the corresponding text representations are as follows (where x represents the character being accented). All such symbols in this text above the character being accented: breve (u-shaped symbol): [)x] caron (v-shaped symbol): [vx] macron (straight line): [=x] acute (égu) accent: ['x] Additionally, the author has spelled certain words inconsistently. Those have been adjusted to be consistent where possible. Examples of such Chapter X 8 Detail from the Buddhist cave-reliefs of Lung-men. _From a print in the author's possession_. 9 Statue of Mi-lo (Maitreya, the next future Buddha), in the "Great Buddha Temple" at Chengting (Hopei). _Photo H. Hammer-Morrisson_. 10 Ladies of the Court: Clay models which accompanied the dead person to the grave. T'ang period. _In the collection of the Museum für Völkerkunde. Berlin_. 11 Distinguished founder: a temple banner found at Khotcho, Turkestan. _Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin. No. 1B 4524, illustration B 408_. 12 Ancient tiled pagoda at Chengting (Hopei). _Photo H. Hammer-Morrisson_. Chapter XII 9 14 Aborigines of South China, of the "Black Miao" tribe, at a festival. China-ink drawing of the eighteenth century. _Collection of the Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin. No. 1D 8756, 68_. 15 Pavilion on the "Coal Hill" at Peking, in which the last Ming emperor committed suicide. Photo Eberhard. 16 The imperial summer palace of the Manchu rulers, at Jehol. _Photo H. Hammer-Morrisson_. 17 Tower on the city wall of Peking. _Photo H. Hammer-Morrisson_. MAPS 1 Regions of the principal local cultures in prehistoric times 2 The principal feudal States in the feudal epoch (roughly 722-481 B.C.) 3 China in the struggle with the Huns or Hsiung-nu (roughly 128-100 B.C.) 4 The Toba empire (about A.D. 500) 5 The T'ang realm (about A.D. 750) 6 The State of the Later T'ang dynasty (923-935) Chapter Two
2012
What is modern China? Many have tried to answer this short yet challenging question. However, most of the time the answers are drawn simplistically based on the images of China’s current economic success. These images present China as “having been, being, and always being” a node of social and cultural interaction. These images, the 2008 Olympics for instance, have flattened China to a single cognitive entity – the twenty-first century China. Modern China presents us with a dual image. One is a society transforming itself through economic development and social revolution. The other is the world’s largest and oldest bureaucratic state, struggling with the multiplicity of problems of economic and political management. To understand China today, we need to understand Chinese history. In this course, we will try to answer the contemporary question, “What is modern China?” from a historical perspective.
Culture, Politics, and Society in Late Imperial China (Autumn 2016)
This advanced undergraduate seminar explores key questions and problems in late imperial Chinese history from the end of the Ming dynasty until the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911. We will examine a wide array of themes, from the historiography of modern China to the history of mercantilism, global trade, and the rise of European imperialism, as well as debates about the East/West divide and the problem of metageography, Qing governmentality and foreign relations, and Qing expansion along the frontiers of the empire. We will then turn to examine the colonial encounter, internal unrest and rebellion, regional conflict and military modernisation, and how the Qing state endeavoured to confront these pressing challenges to its sovereignty. We will also explore themes such as the late imperial city, the social construction of gender, literary culture, the rise of nationalism, civil society and the public sphere, as well as late Qing reforms and the role of intellectuals within society. The aim of the course will be to help students develop a critical perspective on late imperial and modern Chinese history, and to understand the diverse approaches scholars have historically taken towards the field. We will therefore be reading a variety of academic books and articles that provide contrarian and contradictory viewpoints, and students will be encouraged to discuss and debate the relative merits of their positions.