Provincial Patriots: The Hunanese and Modern China

by Stephen R. Platt

From the Taiping Rebellion in the mid-nineteenth century to the Chinese Communist movement in the twentieth, no province in China gave rise to as many reformers, military officers, and revolutionaries as did Hunan. Stephen Platt offers the first comprehensive study of why Hunan wielded such disproportionate influence.

Covering a span of eight decades, this book portrays three generations of Hunanese scholar-activists who held their provincial loyalties above their allegiances to a questionable Chinese empire. The renaissance of Hunan centered around the revival of Wang Fuzhi, a local hermit scholar from the seventeenth century whose iconoclastic writings were deemed a remarkable match for "Western" ideas of progress, humanism, and nationalism. Advocates of reform and revolution thus framed their projects as the continuance of a local tradition--the natural destiny of the Hunanese people--creating a tradition of reform and nationalism that culminated in the 1920s with a Hunanese independence movement led by the young Mao Zedong.

By putting provincial Hunan at the center of this narrative, Platt uncovers an unexpected and surprising story of modern China that sheds light on the current resurgence of regionalism in the country.

Genres: China, History, Asia

286 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2007

About the author

Stephen R. Platt is an award-winning historian of China and the West whose newest book is The Raider (Knopf, 2025). His previous books include Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom (Knopf, 2012), which won the Cundill History Prize, and Imperial Twilight (Knopf, 2018), which was shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize. He teaches at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and holds a PhD in History from Yale. He lives with his family in Northampton, MA.

Reviews

[Eric Tsui · Rating 4 out of 5]

雖然立論頗具爭議，卻能挑戰我們對中國國族主義的固有觀念。東亞大陸的民眾，並非一開始就想要建立大一統的國族國家，大陸帝國鄂圖曼化到二十世紀初仍非不可想像。現代中國的建立，或多或少是一場意外，也因而沒有不證自明的正當性。

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I was approaching research that addressed the role of early Chinese students studying in America, a colleague with more familiarity in Chinese history said I might find this work of interest. As someone with, admittedly, limited knowledge of China and its history, especially through the consideration of provinces, I found this an engaging read. Interestingly enough, the intersection with America and education is present, if not overly expounded upon (which is a good fit for this text - the topic would detract from the mission of this work). Platt's consideration of the back and forth between Hunan and the broader powers, the intersection of actors and shifting concerns, and the global backdrop of industrialization and growth is compelling, engaging, and intriguing to consider when one parallels it to one's knowledge of other world events.

Platt's work, then, is approachable without sacrificing detail and provides an informative consideration of elements that not only did inform China, but also the provinces and movements that could have influenced it further, creating what he calls in the introduction, "visions of another Chinese future."

Well worth one's time and reading if one wants a more complete look at China's history.

[D · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you think Taiwan/Tibet/Hong Kong/Xinjiang are the forerunners of separatists, this book tells you that way before these regions wanted to not be part of China, the elites of an inland province called Hunan decided that Hunanese should build a Switzerland of the East for themselves and Chinese were the aggressors instead of the West. Ironically, the very person whose portrait is sitting in the middle of Tiananmen Square today was the person who proposed a "Republic of Hunan" in the newspaper. China as an indivisible centralised state has not always been a concept held true as most suggest. Hunanese played with various ideas of Hunanese self-governance including an autonomous province, a Chinese federation and even total independence. The idea of Hunanese as a race died in the end, but throughout the process Hunanese elites had huge influence on China. In modern days, it's difficult to find books that promote regional identities as it is a taboo subject, hence Provincial Patriots is an important read for anyone who really wants to look beyond political propagandas.

[Gina Rheault · Rating 5 out of 5]

A predecessor to Stephen Platt's more popular books, this is a very focused academic book from an academic press, and thus very advanced for a casual reader. The thesis is that Hunan Province had a strong regional identity and intellectual tradition which produced an outsized number of leaders with an outsized influence on the direction and fate of China from the Qing dynasty through today. Mao and Zeng Guofan are the characters who stand out for me, but there are so many others. Well-written and footnoted, worth a scan by casual students of China and its history, and an in-depth must-read for folks who are interested in another view of the complex mosaic that is China today.

[Oscar · Rating 5 out of 5]

诸多材料已经淹没在中国主义者一层又一层的发明学之中，只留蛛丝马迹。能够点出与中国主义者不同的视角，就已经很难得了。不过对于渚徙从“湖南主义”到communism的转变，有点儿突兀。我觉得这种湖南民族主义可能也只是interest groups之间选择的不同，并不是具有现在意义上的种族含义。比如江浙做题家没有武力自保的能力，只能寄希望于做大一统帝国的收税官；而英勇果毅的湖南新贵从Taiping rebellion发家，并不是帝国的依附者；自然是可以自谋出路的。

[Sergio Bravo · Rating 4 out of 5]

这本书可以叫《追寻王夫之》

[王维蔚WeiweiWang · Rating 5 out of 5]

跋写得好，让书的正文点到却未写明的部分得以总结。一本书成功地补全了后来被国家民族主义吞并的曾有过的思潮，王夫之如线将前后串联。黄兴一段提到了我的学校，倍感亲切，而校歌当今都有“船山思问”一句；而本书探访的每一段故事后，仿佛都有着船山的影子。Happy being a Hunanese。

[Charlie Ye · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Modern History of Huxiania: From Wang Fuzhi to Peng Huang