Fairbank J.K., Goldman M. China. A New History

Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2006 — 640 p.
ISBN 0674018281
2nd editionJohn King Fairbank was the West’s doyen on China, and this book is the full and final expression of his lifelong engagement with this vast ancient civilization. It remains a masterwork without parallel. The distinguished historian Merle Goldman brings the book up to date, covering reforms in the post-Mao period through the early years of the twenty-first century, including the leadership of Hu Jintao. She also provides an epilogue discussing the changes in contemporary China that will shape the nation in the years to come.Preface to the Enlarged Edition
Preface to the Original Edition
Introduction: Approaches to Understanding China’s History
The Variety of Historical Perspectives. — Geography: The Contrast of North and South. — Humankind in Nature. — The Village: Family and Lineage. — Inner Asia and China: The Steppe and the Sown
Rise and Decline of the Imperial Autocracy
Origins: The Discoveries of Archaeology
Paleolithic China. — Neolithic China. — Excavation of Shang and Xia. — The Rise of Central Authority. — Western Zhou. — Implications of the New Archaeological Record
The First Unification: Imperial Confucianism
The Utility of Dynasties. — Princes and Philosophers. — The Confucian Code. — Daoism. — Unification by Qin. — Consolidation and Expansion under the Han. — Imperial Confucianism. — Correlative Cosmology. — Emperor and Scholars
Reunification in the Buddhist Age
Disunion. — The Buddhist Teaching. — Sui-Tang Reunification. — Buddhism and the State. — Decline of the Tang Dynasty. — Social Change: The Tang-Song Transition
China’s Greatest Age: Northern and Southern Song
Efflorescence of Material Growth. — Education and the Examination System. — The Creation of Neo-Confucianism. — Formation of Gentry Society
The Paradox of Song China and Inner Asia
The Symbiosis of Wen and Wu. — The Rise of Non-Chinese Rule over China. — China in the Mongol Empire. — Interpreting the Song Era
Government in the Ming Dynasty
Legacies of the Hongwu Emperor. — Fiscal Problems. — China Turns Inward. — Factional Politics
The Qing Success Story
The Manchu Conquest. — Institutional Adaptation. — The Jesuit Interlude. — Growth of Qing Control in Inner Asia. — The Attempted Integration of Polity and Culture
Late Imperial China, 1600–1911
The Paradox of Growth without Development
The Rise in Population. — Diminishing Returns of Farm Labor. — The Subjection of Women. — Domestic Trade and Commercial Organization. — Merchant-Official Symbiosis. — Limitations of the Law
Frontier Unrest and the Opening of China
The Weakness of State Leadership. — The White Lotus Rebellion, 1796–1804. — Maritime China: Origins of the Overseas Chinese. — European Trading Companies and the Canton Trade. — Rebellion on the Turkestan Frontier, 1826–1835. — Opium and the Struggle for a New Order at Guangzhou, 1834–1842. — Inauguration of the Treaty Century after 1842
Rebellion and Restoration
The Great Taiping Rebellion, 1851–1864. — Civil War. — The Qing Restoration of the 1860s. — Suppression of Other Rebellions
Early Modernization and the Decline of Qing Power
Self-Strengthening and Its Failure. — The Christian-Confucian Struggle. — The Reform Movement. — The Boxer Rising, 1898–1901. — Demoralization
The Republican Revolution, 1901–1916
A New Domestic Balance of Bower. — Suppressing Rebellion by Militarization. — Elite Activism in the Public Sphere. — The Japanese Influence. — The Qing Reform Effort. — Constitutionalism and Self-Government. — Insoluble Systemic Problems. — The Revolution of 1911 and Yuan Shikai’s Dictatorship
The Republic of China, 1912–1949
The Quest for a Chinese Civil Society
The Limits of Chinese Liberalism. — The Limits of Christian Reformism. — The Tardy Rise of a Political Press. — Academic Development. — The New Culture Movement. — The May Fourth Movement. — Rise of the Chinese Bourgeoisie. — Origins of the Chinese Communist Party
The Nationalist Revolution and the Nanjing Government
Sun Yatsen and the United Front. — The Accession to Power of Jiang Jieshi (Chiang Kaishek). — The Nature of the Nanjing Government. — Systemic Weaknesses
The Second Coming of the Chinese Communist Party
Problems of Life on the Land. — Rural Reconstruction. — The Rise of Mao Zedong. — The Long March, 1934–1935. — The Role of Zhou Enlai. — The Second United Front
China’s War of Resistance, 1937–1945
Nationalist Difficulties. — Mao’s Sinification of Marxism. — Mao Zedong Thought. — The Rectification Campaign of 1942–1944. — American Support of Coalition Government
The Civil War and the Nationalists on Taiwan
Why the Nationalists Failed. — Nationalist Attack and Communist Counterattack. — Taiwan as a Japanese Colony. — Taiwan as the Republic of China
The People’s Republic of China
Establishing Control of State and Countryside
Creating the New State, 1949–1953. — Collectivizing Agriculture. — Collective Agriculture in Practice. — Beginning Industrialization. — Education and the Intellectuals. — The Anti-Rightist Campaign, 1957–1958
The Great Leap Forward, 1958–1960
Background Factors. — The Disaster of 1959–1960. — Revival: Seizing Control of Industrial Labor. — Party Rectification and Education. — The Sino-Soviet Split. — The Great Leap Forward as a Social Movement
The Cultural Revolution, 1966–1976
Underpinnings. — Mao’s Aims and Resources. — Role of the People’s Liberation Army. — How the Cultural Revolution Unfolded. — The Red Guards. — The Seizure of Power. — Foreign Affairs. — Decentralization and the Third Front. — The Succession Struggle. — The Cultural Revolution in Retrospect. — Aftermath
The Post-Mao Reform Era (by Merle Goldman)
Epilogue: China at the Close of the Century (by Merle Goldman)
Note on Romanization and Citation
Suggested Reading
Publisher’s Note
Illustration Credits
Author Index
General Index
Illustrations