A Bitter Revolution: China's Struggle with the Modern World

by Rana Mitter

In this powerful new look at modern China, Rana Mitter goes back to a pivotal moment in Chinese history to uncover the origins of the painful transition from pre-modern to modern. Mitter identifies May 4, 1919, as the defining moment of China's twentieth-century history. On that day, outrage over the Paris peace conference triggered a vast student protest that led in turn to "the May Fourth Movement." Just seven years before, the 2,000-year-old imperial system had collapsed. Now a new group of urban, modernizing thinkers began to reject Confucianism and traditional culture in general as hindrances in the fight against imperialism, warlordism, and the oppression of women and the poor. Forward-looking, individualistic, and embracing youth, this "New Culture movement" made a lasting impact on the critical decades that followed. Throughout each of the dramatically different eras that followed, the May 4 themes persisted, from the insanity of the Cultural Revolution to China's recent
romance with space-age technology.

Genres: China, History, Nonfiction, Politics, Asia, Cultural, International Relations

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Rana Shantashil Rajyeswar Mitter is a professor of modern Chinese history at the University of Oxford and the author of several books including A Bitter Revolution. He is a regular contributor to British television and radio. His writing has appeared in the Financial Times, the Guardian, and elsewhere.

Reviews

[Pipat Tanmontong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bitter Revolution บอกเล่าเรื่องราวของจีนในศตวรรษที่ 20 ในมุมมองด้าน สังคมศาสตร์ เรื่องราวเริ่มต้นจากขบวนการ 4 พฤษภาคม 1919 เรื่อยไปจนยุคหลังเหตุการณ์ที่จตุรัสเทียนอันเหมิน ปี 1989 โดยใช้มุมมองโฟกัสไปที่บรรดา นักคิด นักเขียน นักหนังสือพิมพ์ มากกว่าบรรดาขุนศึก หรือ นักการเมือง
หนังสือเริ่มต้นด้วยความสิ้นหวังต่อชาติ ของชาวจีนในยุคจักรวรรดินิยม การแสวงหาแนวทางใหม่ๆเพื่อนำพาจีนให้หลุดพ้นจากความล้าหลัง จารีตประเพณีดังเดิมของจีนถูกท้ายทายโดย”วิทยาศาสตร์กับประชาธิปไตย” มีทางเลือกมากมายในการส้างชาติขึ้นมาใหม่ไม่ว่าจะเป็น เสรีนิยมแบบตะวันตก แนวคิดมาร์กซิสต์ การปรับปรุงขนมแบบขงจื่อให้ทันสมัย
หนังสือพาเราไปสำรวจทางเลือกทางการเมืองต่างๆเหล่านั้นที่บุคลในประวัติศาสตร์ครุ่นคิดถึง แนวคิดเหล่านั้นเดินทางผ่านปัจจัยภายในประเทศ และ สถานการณ์ของโลก จนมาเป็นแนวคิดชาตินิยมแบบจีนในยุคปัจจุบัน
หนังสือให้ข้อมูลที่น่านำไปขบคิดต่อมากมาย หากแต่จำต้องหักคะแนนนิดหน่อยเพราะสำนวนการเขียนที่ราบเรียบแบบสารคดีที่ปราศจากอารมณ์ร่วมทำให้อ่านต่อเนื่องได้ยากพอควร

[Rob M · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting history of modern China, structured around quite an unusual narrative. Mitter places the Chinese revolution led by the CCP somewhat into the background and instead foregrounds a longer revolutionary process, which begins with the breakdown of the Qing dynasty and continues to this day.

Mitter's thesis is that all of China's modern political convulsions have been modulations of the 'May 4th' movement, in which the Chinese intellectual elite in Beijing and Shanghai exuberantly adopted Western enlightenment ideas to achieve some form of national salvation.

In this view, anti-imperialism, capitalism, nationalism, communism, Maoism, and reformism are all permutations of the May 4th Movement's search for a strong, new, self confident China.

It's an interesting and coherent narrative, however it also feels limited. A Bitter Revolution is partly an intellectual history of China, and partly a social history of China's intellectuals. Either way, it doesn't tell us much about the huge economic and social changes that ripped through the Chinese majority, i.e. the rural peasantry, or about the life of communism's primary subject, the industrial working class. Neither do we learn much about China's international role in the wider Cold War, as Mitter foregrounds the intellectual xenophobia and isolationism of the Cultural Revolution, rather than China's concrete (albeit limited) interventions abroad.

The book takes us up to date as of the time of writing (i.e. the early 2000s), so it therefore has nothing to say about major shifts in Chinese policy since then, for example the expansive Belt and Road project, or President Xi's centralisation of economic and political authority.

The book reads well, and the author's tone is conversational; neither overcomplicating nor oversimplifying his subject matter. Overall, I'd recommend A Bitter Revolution to someone that already has a strong baseline knowledge of the Chinese 20th century and is looking for a different theoretical perspective. I wouldn't recommend it as a baseline text.

[Valorie Dalton · Rating 4 out of 5]

In A Bitter Revolution, Rana Mitter looks into China’s past to explain how modern China developed. He chooses as his focus the May Fourth Movement of 1919, which he feels was a pinnacle moment during which Chinese students and intellectuals eager to modernize China looked outward to the West and beyond to applaud democracy and science while rejecting their own cultural past. Mitter’s argument is that the “ghost” of the May Fourth Movement lingered as an undertone to China’s bumpy road to modernization, and that ideas of the May Fourth Movement remained a constant, though their meanings transformed and differed in importance as various parties and people interpreted and used them (xi). Mitter looks away from the development of the Chinese Communist Party as the turning point toward modernity. Instead, he places the formation of the CCP as part of the May Fourth Movement’s legacy, though not its inevitable conclusion. Mitter focuses on what he considers the more formative years of the development of modernity in China: the 20s, 40s, 60s, and 80s. However, Mitter does not ignore the events that fall outside of those decades, briefly looking at events such as the war with Japan in the 30s and the Hundred Flowers Campaign of the late 50s. Mitter provides a narrative background of the events of May 4, 1919 in order to describe larger issues of the May Fourth Movement. Students and intellectuals were struggling to make sense of a modern world that subjected them to imperialism and unfair treaties. When the Versailles Treaty of World War I gave German land in China to the Japanese, many Chinese were enraged. They pinpointed that the source of their problems was a traditional Confucian culture that kept them from modernizing.

Mitter approaches the exact date in which the ideas surrounding the May Fourth Movement took shape with caution, and rather than try to fix a date he chooses instead to insist that it was the “atmosphere and mood” that defined the era, not clearly defined dates (19). This complicates his argument because spirit and mood are hard to quantify and define with certainty. Mitter admits, “the May Fourth period did not spring up from nowhere” and enumerates previous reform and change (22). Yet this would suggest that the May Fourth Movement happened along a trajectory, albeit not a straight or stable one, and was therefore not as watershed as Mitter makes it out to be. Though it would ultimately be no less important, it would be less isolated as the starting point of modernity. Yet Mitter sufficiently illustrates how the May Fourth Movement developed out of its social and political context, and why it was such a powerful movement. Mitter addresses his geographical limitations in chapter two. The story he tells is largely one of urban youth and university intellectuals. The two primary cities of the May Fourth Movement were Beijing and Shanghai because they were where universities thrived, intellectuals flocked, and young people came in contact not only with the West, but also with the effects of imperialism and modernism.

The atmosphere and mood that Mitter explores was therefore one of a very limited scope, encompassed by small groups of people who did not reflect wider ideas and standards within the whole of China. It must be noted that the largest portion of the Chinese population is unaccounted for. Mitter chooses four individuals to exemplify the "different facets of the era," and how the May Fourth Movement included "a wide variety of attitudes and ideas" that questioned Chinese culture, used mass media, and tried to reconcile nationalism with class and gender (54). His choice in selecting female writer Ding Ling is a contribution to the study of Chinese women and gender. There is one error in continuity found in Mitter's numbers. When discussing readership of Zou Taofen's newspaper, Life, he states the readership was at a record of 200,000 when Nationalists shut it down. Later, Mitter states the readership numbering 1.5 to 2 million (56-57, 63). Though he may be accounting for people who did not subscribe but read the magazine, he does not provide rationale for such a large difference in numbers.

Chapter three attempts to describe what life was like for the youth of the New Culture and the May Fourth Movement. For the Chinese of this era, foreign imports abounded, youth no longer deferred to the wisdom of the elderly, women were more independent and involved in the workforce, free love reigned, print disseminated ideas, people sought business ventures through which to "save China," science and technology were considered a way forward, and individualism was prized (70). It was a time of new culture and opportunity without the restrictions of Confucian values. It would be an overly optimistic picture had Mitter left it at that, but he shows that many Chinese struggled to define their new boundaries. Zou Taofen had a popular advice column in Life, which betrayed the level of anxiety youth felt in their search for new identities. In trying to explain what the spirit of the times entailed, Mitter makes more than one comparison to the American 60s (99, 105). While it is a good comparison to make to understand the essential spirit of new freedoms and ideas, the cultural values implied are not so easily transferred. The era died, according to Mitter, for two reasons: the Japanese invasion and world depression (99-100). The spirit of the May Fourth Movement would not return fully until the 80s, detouring during Communist era. Chapter four delves into the more political aspects of the May Fourth Movement, what people thought about new political realities, and how people saw themselves globally. Mitter attempts to address the unique and complex arrangement of Chinese politics to make a few important points. First, the Nationalists should not be secondary to the Communists, and both used rhetoric of the May Fourth Movement in their ideologies. Second, party and political identification was weak among the mass population, even among the May Fourth Movement. Third, while Communists saw themselves as the inevitable end of the May Fourth Movement, China could have taken numerous paths toward modernity. Fourth, that the Chinese modified outside models from the West, Eastern Europe, and other countries like India and Turkey. Fifth, that Confucianism did not end because of the May Fourth Movement, and continued afterward (103-108, 114, 129).

Mitter also answers the question of why China and Japan developed so differently. Mitter cites many differences: the Japanese wanted to overcome the West while China did not, Japan retained a hint of mysticism and a respect for their past while China focused on nationalism and modernity, and Japan was less influenced by the West while China had many years of direct influence through imperialism (120-122). However, what Mitter does not explain is why things that should have seemingly stunted Japan actually assisted it, while China, which by all rights should have modernized first under their strict tenants to do so, did not. Mitter takes a dark turn in chapter five, giving quick histories of China throughout the 30s during the invasion of Japan. Due to the immediacy of crisis, people could not afford to think of issues of free thought and love, and sidelined May Fourth ideology. Out of necessity, China began to turn inward and lose the cosmopolitanism that punctuated the May Fourth Movement. Pluralism and the open forum for debate vanished. It was also during this time that the Nationalists and Communists battled with the Communists the final victors (155-157, 184). Mitter rewrites the traditional interpretation of the Nationalists by insisting that they were more than a mere dark blotch in Chinese history, but rather they were thrust into a time of chaos with little resources and organization. Their undoing was not an inevitable failure on their part, but rather it was logical given the circumstances. With Mao in power, Mitter moves on to issues surrounding Mao and the Chinese Communist Party both in internal and external policy. Not only did Mao institute his disastrous Hundred Flowers and Great Leap Forward, but Communist China came to power just as the Cold War sparked international tension and forced Mao to insulate China from the outside. Self-sufficiency was vital and Mao saw weakness in lingering elements of the past, which he attempted to stamp out with his Cultural Revolution (190-198). Mitter gives an accurate sense of the chaos and fervor of the time, and of Mao's unique personality. Mitter also fuses together Mao's seemingly opposed vision of China to May Fourth beliefs, though they are hard to reconcile in his argument when Mitter himself says that the Communist era was absent May Fourth ideals (198).

Chapter six continues with Mao, the Cultural Revolution, and the Cold War. Both the May Fourth Movement and the Cultural Revolution wanted to stamp out the influence of China's cultural past and exalt youth, but the Cultural Revolution saw this to fruition through violence. Mitter feels it was a "disorientation" of May Fourth. Mao’s policies were also, in part, influenced by the Cold War and the "either/or" dynamic of it. Mao thought in black and white because the world was thrust into two opposing camps (200-201, 217, 229-230, 237, 240). Mitter contributes to the overall historiography of China with his analysis of the language of violence, and how the Communist era was a time in which language held great power over a person's fate and livelihood (208-209). The analysis of the youth who made up the Red Guard is also an interesting piece of psychoanalytical history. It illustrates the extents that people went in order to avoid the negative effects of being labeled a term that had a negative connotation. Mitter also presents Mao as the Chinese counterpart to the Soviet "machine man" who identified technological power with virility. This is also a good illustration of the complexity of the Chinese psychology of power because Mao rejected the help of Soviets, though technological advance could not have happened without Soviet support (237). Mitter then takes the reader forward in time to the 80s and the so-called New Era, when the true spirit of the May Fourth Movement was revitalized. After the death of Mao, China began to look outward again, and the West had a notable influence on culture, which made the New Era mirror that of the New Culture generation, anxieties included. Those involved in the movement made an explicit link between their movement and the past by stating that it was their mission to continue the spirit of May Fourth. Mitter notes that one of the major differences between the two was that the New Era did not feel it had to "save China" because warlords and imperialism no longer existed (245, 248-254, 259, 275). However, there is a lot to be said about post-Communist and post-xenophobic recovery, and the extent people felt the past was going to hurt progress and necessitate a "saving." Mitter chooses media to express the Chinese mindset of the time, using the book The Ugly Chinaman and a documentary Heshang. The Ugly Chinaman placed blame for Chinese troubles on something negative passed down through culture that stunted development, which mirrored the May Fourth rejection of the past. Heshang, highly controversial, expressed through nature scenes a conclusion that China needed to abandon its "yellow" past for the "blue" West (263-265).

Mitter's final chapter focuses on events post-Tian'anmen Square. It was not long after the bloody end of the 1989 showdown that Communism throughout Europe began to collapse. China decided to "reinvent itself as a developing state," and rapidly modernize in response to a bid for the Olympic games (287, 290-291). China began to embrace its past again, which the May Fourth and New Era had rejected as destructive, making them more like Japan during its years of development. People increasingly began to support the government, and the government, while still careful to monitor certain behavior, allowed people more freedom to create and be their own definition of patriotic. Many began to see the government as too complacent rather than too repressive. Mitter states that China's uniqueness may be in that it avoided options that seemed too risky in a time of crisis, such as democracy, yet undertook large-scale technological projects such as the Three Gorges Dam despite the protest of outside powers (299, 303, 308-310). In this way, the spirit of science from the May Fourth Movement, also part of Mao's projects, survived on as official practice. According to Mitter, the most important legacy of May Fourth was that it showed China that it could survive with a variety of opinions and possibilities (313).

Mitter aptly surmises that China is still at a point of transition and still struggling with many of the issues of modernity and globalization. China is not exceptional in that it is a product of its own past, but China's struggle with modernity is more contemporary than in other parts of the world. Bitter Revolution is by no means a comprehensive history of modern China. However, the events and people Mitter chooses to expound upon are so thoroughly explained that no reader will be left with gaps. One need not be a scholar of Chinese history to understand Mitter's arguments because he formulates them with great detail. He further assists his readers through a short chronology and pronunciation guide, though the chronology misses many key events that Mitter himself discusses. A glossary of concepts, people, and groups would have been useful to the novice of Chinese history. Mitter's lack of a proper bibliography, as well as his narrative style, point to Bitter Revolution being more of a popular history, though it is not without scholarly merit. He is careful to cite his sources through endnotes, though it is notable that the majority of his sources are secondary. Nevertheless, Mitter does use primary sources such as newspapers, pamphlets, novels, and firsthand accounts. Mitter unfortunately succumbs to Western-centric interpretations, though he balances them out with internal Chinese matters so that he does not excessively overstate the impact of the West. Nevertheless, he does not use enough caution when he makes statements like, "the most violent challenge to Confucian values... was the introduction of two western systems of thought... capitalist modernity and Christianity (17)." Fortunately, Mitter does not rely solely on the Western impact interpretation, noting the variety of influences on China from within and outside, giving a balanced and global assessment. Overall, Mitter successfully traces May Fourth thought throughout Chinese history, pinpointing its changes and deviations, in a book useful to scholars and students.

[peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

this is a very well written book with an incredibly broad scope, and at heart that is the problem. it reaches too far, and never really makes an argument. on the other hand, its so well written that if you want a book about modern chinese history but dont want to be bored, this would do just fine.

[Li Ya 🪷 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Od 4 maja 1919 do 4 maja 1989 - dokładnie ten przedział pokrywa ta książka. Tematem przewodnim książki są wydarzenia 4 maja 1919 roku oraz ich wpływ na późniejszy rozwój Chin. Autor przechodzi przez największe rewolucje oraz protesty, które miały miejsce w XX wiecznych Chinach. Dodatkowo przedstawia ich wpływ na chińską literaturę i ówczesnych pisarzy. Dobra pozycja, warta przeczytania.

[Klin กลินท์ · Rating 4 out of 5]

เหตุใดการเมืองและวัฒนธรรมจีนในปัจจุบันจึงได้รับอิทธิพลสำคัญจากสิ่งที่เกิดขึ้นเมื่อช่วงต้นศตวรรษที่ 20 ?
พลิกแผ่นดิน แผ่นดินพลิกของจีน ที่ ณ ปัจจุบันอำนาจของจีนเพิ่มขึ้นเรื่อยๆ ในระดับนานาชาติ และจีนจะเป็นอย่างไรในการเป็นมหาอำนาจระดับโลกสมัยใหม่ ?



“ครั้งหนึ่ง หลู่ซวิ่นนักเขียนผู้ยิ่งใหญ่ของจีนเคยตั้งข้อสังเกตไว้ว่า “การปฏิวัตินั้นเป็นเรื่องขมขี่น” แผ่นดินจีนต้องเผชิญกับความเจ็บปวดแสนสาหัสในระหว่างที่ค้นหาอัตลักษณ์ใหม่ การปฏิวัติตลอดช่วงศตวรรษที่ 20 ทั้งในปี 1911 ปี 1927 และปี 1949 ล้วนนำมาซึ่งความทุกข์อันใหญ่หลวง กระนั้นก็ตามเรื่องราวของจีนในศตวรรษนี้บางคราก็มีแนวคิดและอุดมการณ์ที่ก่อให้เกิดการเปลี่ยนแปลงแบบพลิกโฉมและนำความยินดีมาให้ ซึ่งอาจเกิดขึ้นได้อีกครั้ง ยุคสมัย 4 พฤษภาคมเป็นเบ้าหลอมรวมของการเปลี่ยนแปลงหลายอย่าง เป็นไปไม่ได้เลยที่จะเข้าใจทะลุปรุโปร่งว่าสังคมซึ่งประกอบด้วยคนพันล้านคนมีการเปลี่ยนแปลงอย่างไรในช่วงเพียงร้อยปี หากไม่หันกลับไปใคร่ครวญถึงประสบการณ์และความเป็นไปได้ต่าง ๆ ที่อาจเกิดขึ้นในช่วงสั้น ๆ ของศตวรรที่ 20” น.86

อ่าน “ประวัติศาสตร์จีนสมัยใหม่” “A BITTER REVOLUTION; China’s Struggle With The Modern World” 100 ปี การปฏิวัติอันขมขื่น การลุกขึ้นยืนของหนุ่มสาว และย่างก้าวที่พลิกการเมือง วัฒนธรรมจีนสู่โลกใหม่ ผลงานของ Rana Mitter (รานา มิสเตอร์) แปลโดย สุทธิมาน ลิมปนุสรณ์ ซึ่งนำข้าพเจ้าย้อนกลับไปยังประวัติศาสตร์ศตวรรษที่ 20 ของจีนผ่านมุมมอง กรอบแนวคิด วิเคราะห์ ตั้งคำถาม และค้นหาคำตอบใหญ่ ๆ โดยเฉพาะประวัติศาสตร์ “ขบวนการ 4 พฤษภาคม 1919” อันเป็นจุดกำเนิดเปลี่ยนที่สำคัญในประวัติศาสตร์จีนศตวรรษที่ 20 ซึ่งมีอิทธิพล ส่งต่อ “จิตวิญญาณขบวนการ 4 พฤษภาคม” ปลูกฝัง มั่นคง ถูกบิดเบือน เงียบหาย ไม่อิน รื้อฟื้น และปรับให้สู่จีนสมัยใหม่

งานเขียนชิ้นนี้เข้าถึงได้ไม่ยากสำหรับผู้สนใจในจีนศึกษา ซึ่งไม่ใช่เพียงสำรวจประวัติศาสตร์จีนสมัยใหม่ หรือบันทึกประวัติศาสตร์ทางการเมืองเท่านั้นหากยังบอกเล่าประวัติศาสตร์ทางวัฒนธรรม สังคม วรรณกรรม ชีวิตของผู้คน ความรัก การดำรงชีวิต ฯลฯ...ซึ่งส่งผลต่อพัฒนาการของจีนสมัยใหม่นี้

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[Adrian · Rating 5 out of 5]

As the title states, A Bitter Revolution concerns China's adjustment to the modern world, but the account is told mainly through the frame of May 4th 1919, when China was betrayed at the Versailles Peace Conference and Qingdao was transferred to Japan.
What followed, and what the book essentially examines is the existential crisis that China underwent with the question of not whether to modernize, but how.
Understandably, May 4th takes up much of the first half of the book, but other upheavals such as The Cultural Revolution and the 1989 Tian'anmen incident are examined, and often contrasted with the spirit of May 4th.
The book itself serves as an intellectual and sociological history of 20th Century China, examining the intellectual currents driving the forces of change throughout China.
In all these respects A Bitter Revolution succeeds in providing a unique History of Modern China. While many other accounts may follow the formula of one damn thing after another, Rana Mitter goes deep into examining the how and the why behind change in Modern China.
Although published in 2004, thereby not being privy to much of the change that has followed, A Bitter Revolution is indispensable for modern Chinese scholarship as all the currents examined are very much with China today and will shape China for decades to come.
A superb, insightful and highly readable insight into the soul of Modern China.

[Sleeping bear · Rating 4 out of 5]

เป็นการสรุปเรื่องราวของจีนสมัยก่อนเข้าสู่ปี2000 โดยเฉพาะขบวนการ 4 พฤษภาคม ความโหดร้ายของยุคสมัย การต่อต้านของประชาชน เหมาะสำหรับการอ่านเพื่อให้เห็นภาพรวม timelineเหตุการณ์ ก่อนไปเจาะลึกในประเด็นที่สนใจต่อไป

[Robert Dowdle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've always liked Mitter's writing style but I often struggle to articulate what specifically I like about it. I will simply just list things I liked about the book that might help you decide if this book is for you. The whole focus of the book the May 4th movement in China which was nationalist movement which aimed to update China's political institutions for the 20th century while moving away from perceived negatives of Chinese culture. Mitter organizes the book well with each section broadly focusing on an era in Chinese history where elements of the May 4th movement resurface. Certain figures are continuously referenced and Mitter stays focuses on the intellectual dimension of political changes. One of my favorite things Mitter does, and I hope more authors follow, is listing a series of sources about related topics at the end of the book. This is not a bibliography, but just a way for the author to tell the reader, "Hey I recommend these books if you want to read more!". I have found multiple books by re-reading this part multiple times. I didn't give a 5 star just because the topic itself, while not niche, is still somewhat limited and is something I am not entirely invested in. If you are interested in how the legacy of a 1919 movement has effected Chinese history throughout the Warlord Era, 2nd Sino-Japanese War, Cultural Revolution, and Tiananmen Square Protests, this is definitely the book for you.

[Ernest · Rating 4 out of 5]

"[...] The idea that there was something fundamental to all Chinese that needed changing once again showed the concentration even of Chinese reformers on the collective over the individual. For this reason, the advent of democracy need not in itself mean the rise of liberal ideas. A China informed by ideas of racial essence could easily be democratic in voting terms within its own borders, yet monolithic and hostile to diversity politically" - Chapter 7.

"For one of the most important realisations about the original New Culture was not to do with any one specific thread of thought, but rather, the ability of China to sustain competing ideas about how to 'save the nation'. Not that Communism, Gandhianism, nationalism, or Confucianism on their own could come up with solutions to China's earlier crisis, but it was not inevitable that politics should turn to ideologies that were intolerant of any alternatives or dissent." - Chapter 8.

China's mission to adapt to modernity is always reminded by the need to cohere to the past, that it builds this binary that it must only be loyal to one strand. However, past crises have suggested that the infusion of both turns out to be suitable for China. To strike for modernity is to be open to possibilities of plurality. In this way, China's past and desire for a better future can both be permeated through its present. Its reformation (/revolution) hence can be less painful and bitter than in the twentieth century.

[Agustin Forero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite dense; could probably be found in an academic syllabus for some college-level 20th Chinese history course. As a matter of fact, a quick Google search yields exactly that: https://www.google.com/search?q="..."

That said, it's a great introduction to a lot of 20th century China. I read about stuff I already kind of knew, and a lot more about stuff I didn't, and the book serves as a great first glance at these concepts. It's no surprise that Chinese historiography is as complicated as it is, especially with entities like the CCP and Kuomintang involved, but Mitter does a great job at showing how these forces present the insane slurry of events from the May 4th Movement to the modern day. I also did not expect the book to frame itself mostly around the May 4th Movement, but Mitter is excellent at using it as a center-point of the shifting trends in Chinese historiography.

I'm glad I read this book, and I'd happily read another book by Rana Mitter on China.

[Oscar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ambitious in scope and reasonably successful for the relatively short length. Studies the culture of revolution and iconoclasm in china rather than focusing on a specific movement or ideology which I think is definitely the right approach to take when approaching the ideologically confused period of the 20th century. Really nicely written too with some beautiful quotes. This is one sums up stuff for me:

'Thinkers of the May Fourth generation were at least in part seeking a restitution of an old, lost sense of indisputable morality which had disappeared in a shameless age'

[Asaf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written historical book. At times, it is very narrowly deep, and at others, very broadly shallow. It covers a lot of topics, periods, and peoples, but as Mitter states, this is a book which focuses on "May Fourth's" effects on China. I've enjoyed it and learned a good amount, but would not recommend it to someone who has no knowledge of 20th century China.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent summary as far as I can tell.

I found the section on the Cultural Revolution disturbingly useful in looking at what is taking place in Trump's America.

China survived its madness. I hope we survive America's

[Christopher Shoup · Rating 3 out of 5]

An excellent review of China through the lens of struggle and identity associated with the May Fourth Movement, a recurring theme in the flashpoint of clashes between the people and the governments of mainland China.

[Peter Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book goes in lots of directions. More analysis than history as such. Well written and interesting, but doesn’t quite hold together. Some interesting theories and insights into what has moved the players in Chinese history in the last century.

[Mia Retallack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great survey for China in the 20th century - the approach of focusing on the May 4th movement was novel and engaging. More importantly however, the prose was incredible - there is a reason why Rana Mitter is the goat.

[Jessica Zu · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can partially use this for teaching

[Ioana Hreninciuc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting but not an easy read. It’s somewhat convoluted and dry thought it does have quite interesting parts and overall is worth reading.

[Dylan Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thorough account of essentially the May Fourth movement and its impact on China through different events of the 20th century. Really well written and researched albeit pretty dense

[Derin B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good introduction to Chinese history for those uninicciated. His focus on the lived experience of everyday people and culture (esp literature) alongside politics. This book was a helpful re-introduction into modern Chinese history for me. A must read for I think almost eveyone. It's just a bit too liberal though for my taste, even though Mitter is a much better scholar than Dikkoter. It's cool that I'm reading him again, after I was first introduced to this name in IBHL History in high school. He also did ghost me after I emailed him to join the LSESU China Development Forum in my first year of university. Oh well, he was getting ready to leave Oxford for Harvard I guess and a silly LSE student forum didn't appeal to him.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read about the various revolutions and turmoil that China has had the last 150 years or so within itself and with outside forces involved i.e. - foreigners who just like any invader imposed their military and will against a country that was very, very poor and dysfunctional at best. Maybe, now, because they (China) has learned from it's past history that they will and won't be compromised and conquered by the E.U. and certainly not by the U.S. of A. Sometimes it is nice to stand on one own two feet then to bow to your superiors .....

[Snow · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very well written book. It gives you a good overview of China from, however it keeps returning to the same point (May the 4th). I can understand that it can be too much for some people, but I still enjoyed it. It is quite a light read, packed with hard facts. From a perspective of a person that doesn't know much about china, I both got a working knowledge and enjoyment out of this book.

[Kimfu]

"A Bitter Revolution" was a very nice analysis of how China's May 4th Movement in 1919 influenced all of the 20th century, and is continuing to influence China today. I only wish his book had an audio version, so I wouldn't have had to listen to it using the computer voice of Kindle. To all writers out there: Get your books on audio, please!

二零一六年： 第四十二本书

[Sylla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Undoubtedly the greatest bok to read in order to prepare oneself for May 4 2019...in the meantime no other historian has produced anything like Mitter's great interpretation of teh place of the May 4th movement and of its significance for Modern China down to this day.

[!Tæmbuŝu]

KOBOBOOKS

[Janice · Rating 4 out of 5]

a great overview of 20th century Chinese history with the demonstrations of 4 may 1919 at the heart of it.

[Central Library,]

Please find the new arrival books in here.