China in Disintegration: The Republican Era in Chinese History, 1912-1949

Transformation of Modern China

by James Edward Sheridan

After the 1911 fall of the Manchus came the most hideous breakdown in Chinese history. Sheridan, a Northwestern University scholar, concentrates on the Kuomintang movement of Chiang Kai-shek, insisting that we judge a political force by whether it solves the problems posed to it, not, as Chiang's partisans prefer, by means of what-if's. Sheridan's focus on the KMT brings more to light than do many surveys of Mao's revolutionaries. The KMT failed either to create an effective dictatorship or to mobilize fascist passions which could ensure willingness to "sacrifice." Thus the difficulty in squeezing enough wealth out of the peasantry to meet a foreign debt which totaled half the national revenue. The KMT did ensure that forced opium production took up at least a fifth of Chinese cropland by the 1929-1933 period, and they consolidated a soldier recruitment system that approximated Nazi roundups. However, the book underlines Chiang's failure to give the masses a ""Strength through Joy"" spirit; and, as wartime inflation of 300% gave way to postwar collapse, the anti-Communist pitch became emptier and emptier. The Kuomintang turned into a mere holding operation and faded into chaos. Sheridan gives a strong sense of the rapine of the warlords who were Chiang's off-and-on allies, and of the feeble heritage of Sun Yat-sen's patriotic platitudes. He leaves out explicit investigation of the international context while underlining, more than most writers, Chiang's commitment to repay external debt at the expense of the Chinese people. A sound and striking approach to these decades of desperation in the lives of a quarter of the human population—if not bypassed in the glut of "China books," it may encourage students and academics to go further. — Kirkus Reviews

Genres: China, History, Nonfiction

338 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Until his retirement in 1989, James Edward Sheridan was a professor of Chinese history at Northwestern University.

Reviews

[Pei-jean Lu · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually have to thank a good friend of mine for this book as she knows of my interest in history in general, but more importantly the time period in which The Republic of China now of course modern day Taiwan.
For me as someone born in Taiwan and of course having a deep understanding of the tensions with the mainland and also knowing much of the basic history this also filled in many gaps for me such as the rise of Chiang Kai-Shek through the ranks of the KMT, the warlord period, the issues that plagued the establishment of The Republic of China to begin with as well as what led to Chairman Mao’s victory of which would result in the exile of the KMT government to Taiwan.
This though definitely doesn’t portray Chiang and his forces on any really positive light and in the context of the KMT today still demonstrates their absolute ineptitude at uniting the country in their favour.
The irony for me has always been is that Sun Yat Sen penned his three principles based on Lincoln’s Gettysburg speech of a government ‘by the people, with the people, for the people’ and yet it is clear in this that was never going to happen during this period

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good overview of a fascinating period. Not read much else on the subject but this certainly served well as an introduction. Not sure of how it is considered within the historiography of Republican China though.

[Corey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid history, engages the reader. Thorough analysis of Chinese intellectual revolution of which Communism was a part. A balanced account of a controversial and complex period.