Fall of Imperial China

Fall of Imperial China PDF Author: Frederic Wakeman
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0029336805
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
From Simon & Schuster, The Fall of Imperial China is Frederic Wakeman, Jr.'s exploration of Imperial China—both its astronomic rise and steep decline. From the Introduction: "Historians of modern China are used to contrasting the dizzying changes in post-renaissance Europe with the glacial creep of Confucian civilization. The West's global expansion to new vistas of discovery thus distorts our perspective of those older worlds that resisted European conquest. The most tenacious of these ancient civilizations was the Chinese empire."

The Rise and Fall of Imperial China

The Rise and Fall of Imperial China PDF Author: Yuhua Wang
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691237514
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
How social networks shaped the imperial Chinese state China was the world’s leading superpower for almost two millennia, falling behind only in the last two centuries and now rising to dominance again. What factors led to imperial China’s decline? The Rise and Fall of Imperial China offers a systematic look at the Chinese state from the seventh century through to the twentieth. Focusing on how short-lived emperors often ruled a strong state while long-lasting emperors governed a weak one, Yuhua Wang shows why lessons from China’s history can help us better understand state building. Wang argues that Chinese rulers faced a fundamental trade-off that he calls the sovereign’s dilemma: a coherent elite that could collectively strengthen the state could also overthrow the ruler. This dilemma emerged because strengthening state capacity and keeping rulers in power for longer required different social networks in which central elites were embedded. Wang examines how these social networks shaped the Chinese state, and vice versa, and he looks at how the ruler’s pursuit of power by fragmenting the elites became the final culprit for China’s fall. Drawing on more than a thousand years of Chinese history, The Rise and Fall of Imperial China highlights the role of elite social relations in influencing the trajectories of state development.

Fall of Imperial China

Fall of Imperial China PDF Author: Frederic Wakeman
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0029336805
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 296

Get Book

Book Description
From Simon & Schuster, The Fall of Imperial China is Frederic Wakeman, Jr.'s exploration of Imperial China—both its astronomic rise and steep decline. From the Introduction: "Historians of modern China are used to contrasting the dizzying changes in post-renaissance Europe with the glacial creep of Confucian civilization. The West's global expansion to new vistas of discovery thus distorts our perspective of those older worlds that resisted European conquest. The most tenacious of these ancient civilizations was the Chinese empire."

China

China PDF Author: Joseph W. Esherick
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 113461215X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
The Qing dynasty was China’s last, and it created an empire of unprecedented size and prosperity. However in 1911 the empire collapsed within a few short months, and China embarked on a revolutionary course that lasted through most of the twentieth century. The 1911 Revolution ended two millennia of imperial rule and established the Republic of China, but dissatisfaction with the early republic fuelled further revolutionary movements, each intended to be more thoroughgoing than the last, from the National Revolution of the 1920s, to the Communist Revolution, and finally the Cultural Revolution. On the centenary of the 1911 Revolution, Chinese scholars debated the causes and significance of the empire’s collapse, and this book presents twelve of the most important contributions. Rather than focusing on Sun Yat-sen’s relatively weak and divided revolutionary movement, as much previous scholarship has, these studies examine the internal dynamics of political and socio-economic change in China. The chapters reveal how reforms in education, army organization, and constitutional rule created new social forces and political movements that undermined dynastic legitimacy within China and on its frontiers. Through detailed analyses, using new archival, memoir, diary, and newspaper sources, the authors cast new light on the sudden collapse of an empire that many thought was at last embarked on a road to reform and national rejuvenation. China: How the Empire Fell will be of huge interest to students and scholars of modern Chinese history as well as those of contemporary China.

The Fall of Imperial China

The Fall of Imperial China PDF Author: Frederic E. Wakeman
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description


China's Last Empire

China's Last Empire PDF Author: William T. Rowe
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674054555
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 369

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Book Description
In a brisk revisionist history, William Rowe challenges the standard narrative of Qing China as a decadent, inward-looking state that failed to keep pace with the modern West. This original, thought-provoking history of China's last empire is a must-read for understanding the challenges facing China today.

China Between Empires

China Between Empires PDF Author: Mark Edward Lewis
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674060350
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 351

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Book Description
After the collapse of the Han dynasty in the third century CE, China divided along a north-south line. Mark Lewis traces the changes that both underlay and resulted from this split in a period that saw the geographic redefinition of China, more engagement with the outside world, significant changes to family life, developments in the literary and social arenas, and the introduction of new religions. The Yangzi River valley arose as the rice-producing center of the country. Literature moved beyond the court and capital to depict local culture, and newly emerging social spaces included the garden, temple, salon, and country villa. The growth of self-defined genteel families expanded the notion of the elite, moving it away from the traditional great Han families identified mostly by material wealth. Trailing the rebel movements that toppled the Han, the new faiths of Daoism and Buddhism altered every aspect of life, including the state, kinship structures, and the economy. By the time China was reunited by the Sui dynasty in 589 ce, the elite had been drawn into the state order, and imperial power had assumed a more transcendent nature. The Chinese were incorporated into a new world system in which they exchanged goods and ideas with states that shared a common Buddhist religion. The centuries between the Han and the Tang thus had a profound and permanent impact on the Chinese world.

Rethinking the Decline of China's Qing Dynasty

Rethinking the Decline of China's Qing Dynasty PDF Author: Daniel McMahon
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317650433
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
The many instances of regional insurgency and unrest that erupted on China’s borderlands at the turn of the nineteenth century are often regarded by scholars as evidence of government disability and the incipient decline of the imperial Qing dynasty. This book, based on extensive original research, argues that, on the contrary, the response of the imperial government went well beyond pacification and reconstruction, and demonstrates that the imperial political culture was dynamic, innovative and capable of confronting contemporary challenges. The author highlights in particular the Jiaqing Reforms of 1799, which enabled national reformist ideology, activist-oriented administrative education, the development of specialised frontier officials, comprehensive borderland rehabilitation, and the sharing of borderland administration best practice between different regions. Overall, the book shows that the Qing regime had sustained vigour, albeit in difficult and changing circumstances.

Imperial China, 900-1800

Imperial China, 900-1800 PDF Author: Frederick W. Mote
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674012127
Category : China
Languages : en
Pages : 1132

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Book Description
In this history of China for the 900-year span of the late imperial period, Mote highlights the personal characteristics of the rulers and dynasties and probes the cultural theme of Chinese adaptations to recurrent alien rule. Generational events, personalities, and the spirit of the age combine to yield a comprehensive history of the civilization.

The Coming Collapse of China

The Coming Collapse of China PDF Author: Gordon G. Chang
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1588360210
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
China is hot. The world sees a glorious future for this sleeping giant, three times larger than the United States, predicting it will blossom into the world's biggest economy by 2010. According to Chang, however, a Chinese-American lawyer and China specialist, the People's Republic is a paper dragon. Peer beneath the veneer of modernization since Mao's death, and the symptoms of decay are everywhere: Deflation grips the economy, state-owned enterprises are failing, banks are hopelessly insolvent, foreign investment continues to decline, and Communist party corruption eats away at the fabric of society. Beijing's cautious reforms have left the country stuck midway between communism and capitalism, Chang writes. With its impending World Trade Organization membership, for the first time China will be forced to open itself to foreign competition, which will shake the country to its foundations. Economic failure will be followed by government collapse. Covering subjects from party politics to the Falun Gong to the government's insupportable position on Taiwan, Chang presents a thorough and very chilling overview of China's present and not-so-distant future.

The Fall of Imperial China

The Fall of Imperial China PDF Author: Frederic E. Wakeman
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : China
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description