''The Search for Modern China'' is a 1990 non-fiction book by
Jonathan Spence, published by
Century Hutchinson
Hutchinson was a British publishing firm which operated from 1887 until 1985, when it underwent several mergers. It is currently an imprint which is ultimately owned by Bertelsmann, the German publishing conglomerate.
History
Hutchinson began ...
and
W. W. Norton & Company.
It covers the period 1600 to 1989.
According to Spence, the goal was to explain how Modern China was created rather than writing about Modern China directly. Spence stated that he chose 1600 as the starting point so he could "get a full sense of how China's current problems have arisen, and of what resources
..he Chinese can call upon to solve them."
Theresa Munford in ''
Far Eastern Economic Review
The ''Far Eastern Economic Review'' (''FEER'') was an Asian business magazine published between 1946 and December 2009 in the English language. Based in Hong Kong, the news magazine published weekly until December 2004, when it converted to a m ...
'', described it as "more of a textbook" than ''
The Gate of Heavenly Peace'', which she described as lighter reading.
Contents
The total page count is 876.
There is one further reading list per chapter, and the book has some footnotes. She stated the items of photography "are refreshingly different from the ones that are normally reproduced in Chinese history books", "especially the black and white" ones.
[ There are 49 maps and 49 tables.][
Very little ]hanzi
Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji' ...
are in the book. According to Munford, the ones there "are so poorly printed as to hardly be legible."[
Frank Ching stated "This is by no means a book that can be read in one sitting."][Ching, p. 337.]
Reception
George Jochnowitz of ''National Review
''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by the author William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief i ...
'' wrote that the book had been "highly praised"; Jochnowitz added that he felt this was "deservedly so", citing the "relaxed and natural style" and "fascinating information".
Munford praised how the book is "well-designed".[
Vera Schwarcz of '']The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' wrote that the book was "excellent" and praised its "thematic focus", "wealth of illustrations", and "narrative technique" that she stated were not present in other books.[
Frank Ching stated that of Spence's works, this was "the most ambitious".][
Arif Dirlik described the book's writing style as an "easy fluency that makes it accessible to the nonspecialist reader."][Dirlik, p. 94.]
References
Notes
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Further reading
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External links
*
The Search for Modern China
'
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1990 books
Books about China
{{China-book-stub