Modern China

Elementaire Deeltjes #5

by Rana Mitter

China is altijd in het nieuws: van mensenrechtenkwesties, tot de Olympische Spelen in Peking en het 'wonder' van de Chinese economie. Dit boek geeft lezers een korte, heldere introductie in de samenleving, de cultuur, de politiek, de economie en de kunst van het moderne China en zijn relatie met de rest van de wereld. Elementaire Deeltjes is een serie boekjes van AUP die kennis toegankelijk maakt voor een breed publiek. Het is de manier om snel kennis op te doen over onderwerpen die je interesseren. Experts nemen je mee op een ontdekkingsreis waarbij elk thema in de meest beknopte vorm volledig uitgediept wordt. De handige en handzame boekjes geven altijd antwoord op de vraag: 'Hoe zit dat nu eigenlijk?'

Genres: History, China, Nonfiction, Politics, Asia, Economics, Audiobook

172 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

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

[teach_book · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,5 ⭐

ZA DUŻO HISTORII. Nie lubię męczyć się przy reportażach, a tak właśnie było w tym przypadku...

[Nicholas Whyte · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3413280.html

It's a good readable, brief and almost breezy introduction to China as it has developed in the last century or so. By taking modern China as his subject, he more of less starts with the 1911 revolution (with occasional contextualising from the past) and argues for a relatively linear development from Sun Yat-Sen to Chiang Kai-Shek to Mao to Deng, Jiang, Hu and Xi; many things changed, but there is a lot of continuity too. The history section is only half of the book; he also looks at society as a whole, the Chinese economy and Chinese culture, this last of course extending well beyond the People's Republic. The second edition was published in 2016, when it was already clear that Xi was heading in a less liberal direction; now of course we are seeing the vicious crackdown on Hong Kong (which is very sad but surely not surprising), and the appalling treatment of the Uighurs, both clearly directed from the top. But Mitter seems to think that this can't last forever, and that there will be an inevitable pressure for liberalisation which Xi, or possibly his successor, will have to deal with; millions of Chinese live in democratic and open countries, most locally in Taiwan, and we should not underestimate the flexibility that already exists.

[รพีพัฒน์ อิงคสิทธิ์ · Rating 4 out of 5]

ถ้าในแง่ Brief Introduction เล่มนี้ทำได้ค่อนข้างดีเลยทีเดียว แต่ไม่ค่อยชอบสไตล์การเรียบเรียงของเล่มนี้เท่าไหร่ ที่กระโดดไปกระโดดมา อ้างอิง คศ ยุ่บยั่บ แต่บทนำยาวเหยียดกลับไม่ได้ปูพื้นฐานว่า คศ ที่อ้างอิงนั้นอยู่ในยุคใดบ้าง ทำให้บางที่พอแบ่งมาแตะเป็นเรื่องๆ แล้วนึกภาพไม่ออกว่า เอ๊ะ แล้วนี่มันอยู่ในยุคไหน และเราควรจินตนาการบริบทสังคมจีนในยุคนั้นเป็นเช่นไร

[Ben Lind · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book for a political comparison class, and I found it generally vague and unhelpful. At almost every point, it would state the "commonly accepted view" and then immediately contradict that view, but not to the point where you could draw any solid conclusions. I have a somewhat broader understanding of modern China as a result, but I do not feel prepared to offer any solid opinion on the state of the country.

[Belston Campfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love these books. Great introduction into the history of modern China. The more Americans understand our biggest competitor, the better.

[Valentina · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author gives a good overview, outlining the main events in recent Chinese history. As the title says it is very concise and for this reason, I assume, the author had to decide what is important and what is not. This is where the book is not doing so well, in my opinion. A lot of time is dedicated to defining what modern China actually is (a very Oxbridge thing to do) and therefore often reads like the sort of essay I had to write at University (maybe that is why I did not enjoy it). It is an interesting point of discussion, however, I do not consider it necessary to repeatedly come back to this issue in a book titled "a very short introduction". It feels as if the author was justifying the title of the book on every second page. On the other hand, other aspects that should have been given more attention were very much glossed over . One example that comes to my mind is that the author mentions that China and the Soviet Union fell out with each other but doesn't mention why or how in any way. And at other times the book just left me thinking: Interesting, and?
Moreover, the author also occasionally makes rather bold claims (I think once he just plain stated that someone's opinion was just wrong) and just moves on without giving enough evidence to support the claim.

I really enjoyed the section about modern Chinese culture (literature, film, architecture) that was added, which I really did not expect to find here, and how it ties in with the broader politics of the country.

The book is in fact, a very dense history of recent China, I am not sure how approachable this actually is for someone who has not previously studied Chinese history though. For me, it served as an excellent reminder of things that I had forgotten and has given me many starting points to get back into the topic.

[Stefan Gugler · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know what they (and I) say about the Very Short Introductions, ... but this one was actually really good. It didn't really feel like an introduction, more introductory to a more nuanced question than 'basic' history as in recounting of the historical events. This is a feeling I had a few times reading the VSIs: They are not really introductions for amateurs that explain a topic in a self-contained manner yet are short, 'introductory' new angles to a topic already familiar. At least for me, the VSIs where I had some background knowledge felt more rewarding than the ones introducing a completely new topic to me.

For instance, almost the entire 20th century history is recapitulated in one chapter (out of 7). If I wasn't already familiar with all the names and places, I would've struggled a bunch. But the central question of this book is of a different sort, namely whether China is capital-M Modern (as in modernism). So the angle is not really "what happened in the last 20 years in China" but what ideological and cultural shifts moved China after centuries old dynastic period? In the first 10% or so when reading, I was a bit annoyed and braced myself for a Western educated ideological ramble but was surprised for the better. Mitter abstains from sloganeering for most of the time and looks very soberly at the data. Interestingly, he puts the Second Sino-Japanese war at the center of the modern origin. I haven't read anything comparable but it's certainly an interesting thesis.

Even if it's a bit counterintuitive, I think it's a recommendable read after having read some general modern (in the temporal sense) history of China.

[Pete · Rating 4 out of 5]

Modern China : A Very Short Introduction (2008) by Rana Mitter is a worth description of modern Chinese history. Mitter is a professor of modern Chinese history at Oxford.

The book has chapters about what modern China is, a description of recent chinese history, one on what has made China modern and discussions of whether chinese society, the economy and culture is modern.

There is a lot in the book about the Qing, Nationalist and Communist Chinese governments. It’s really interesting to read about how Nationalist China was fairly similar in many ways to Communist China. Also reading about how the Nationalists didn’t really control China and had to work with warlord rulers of large parts of the country.

The book was written some time ago and it’s interesting to see how China has changed since, becoming even richer and more powerful and an even bigger actor on the international stage. Also the rise of Xi Jinping has changed China.

Modern China is well worth a read for anyone wanting to learn more about China. It’s well written, to the point and full of interesting information.

[kagami · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Modern China: A Very Short Introduction" does what is says on the tin: it is a very short introduction. I'm sure it was written for people like me who are not specialists in China but nevertheless have a general interest in it, and it would be a nice launching platform for further reading.
I do like the book for its clear writing and the amount of concentrated general information the author has managed to pack into it, but it was first published in 2008, before the Beijing Olympics and before the global financial crisis. A lot of things have changed since then, and unfortunately the lack of this slice of latest world history in the book already makes it sound out of date. I hope professor Rana Mitter may consider writing a revised edition.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mongolian Cow Sour Yogurt SuperGirl Contest

[Carla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very dated in 2024, but I bought it before I went to China and never read it, so I felt compelled to pick it up. Adequate overview all things considered. Nice to brush up on some facts too because I forget things when I don’t think about them consistently…

[Blake · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exactly as advertised, it provides a cursory understanding of the major events in Chinese history without claiming to provide any profound insights. It’s fewer than 200 pages on the multi-millennia history of a near-continent, so don’t expect to walk away an expert on the topic. But it has provided a foundation and illustrated some of the major themes and tensions that color modern China. It baited the hook and helped me understand what questions to seek answers to next, and that’s just what I wanted.

[Managing my virtual footprint · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first few chapters do a very good job of presenting the last 100 years of Chinese history. Some of the "commentary" chapters towards the end are a bit less "tight". I particularly resent the author's attempt to introduce Berlin's concepts of positive and negative freedom, which he obviously is not familiar with, leading to the most bizarre couple of pages that I read this year.

[Matt Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book feels dated in 2021. A revised edition would make me inclined to give 4 stars because the content is very interesting. I just feel that science and technology has changed much within the last 10 years or so.

[John Paul Gairhan · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Keen to grow the economy, friendly towards the US, Deng Xiaoping even visited Texas and wore a Stetson at a rodeo. At home, cowboys of a different sort also found their moment as the economy grew by leaps and bounds.”

[Darcy French · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books on China I've ever read, and I guess I've read quite a few now.

[Tinwerume · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's okay as an intro to the basic facts of the last century of Chinese history, but I already knew all of it. I don't trust its more tenuous claims at all.

[Mark Englander · Rating 2 out of 5]

Felt like an essay. Was too academic. Obviously, when I wanted to read 'A Very Short Introduction to Modern China' I didn't expect the word 'Modern' to be re-examined at every point. Nonetheless, I still learned a reasonable amount. Could have been more educational if half the academic nonsense was cut.

[marshponds · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the First Edition, which was published in 2008, which unfortunately felt outdated and did not discuss China under Xi in recent years.

[Gregory Knapp · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent introduction to the subject

[Edwin Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good. Slightly repetitive. Great last chapter though

[Ramon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good recap on how China developed going all the way back to the dynasties. The author does a good job at presenting how the country was influenced, or how it compared, to other contemporary civilizations. In general the book has good information and the writing style is fun.

[Zack McCullough · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great coverage from the Qing Dynasty to the last few decades of Chinese history. Good discussion of Chinese identity and its relationship to modernity. I really like these "Very Short Introduction" books by Oxford University Press.

[Grace Valks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to read this for work but it was an alright read. for a very small book it packed a lot in, using very tiny font. should come with a monocle

[Fin · Rating 3 out of 5]

About as fair and helpful as something this short can be. Now maybe I'll stop reading very short histories of China and try and read an actual one

[Bojan Tunguz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Modern China is a fascinating subject in its own right. China, in general, has been one of the most intriguing countries in the world for most of its history. The most populous nation, China is an heir to an ancient civilization that at one point surpassed all the others in the world in terms of cultural and technological achievement. Yet, over the centuries that civilization had fallen behind others and only in recent decades has China started to approach again its erstwhile status of a great power. This raise has been rather gradual, and with many setbacks has taken the better part of the last hundred years. The Modern China is a work in progress, and this very short introduction provides one of the best overviews of this process. The book covers most of the Chinese twentieth century history, and it's noteworthy in that it doesn't see the arrival of the communists in 1949 so much as a clean break from the past as a continuation of the previous attempts at modernization by the Nationalists and their predecessors. The communist rule is also approached more critically, somewhat downplaying the extent of the most egregious years of the Cultural Revolution, and emphasizing the discontinuities within the Communist regime and its policies. In particular, the author argues that some of the economic advances in the recent years can be traced to the set of reforms that started in the late 70s.

One of the strengths of this book is the attention that it pays to the cultural as well as technological and economic advances. Since most people in the West are at least somewhat familiar with some of the most prominent recent Chinese cinematographic achievements, this provides an accessible connection to the cultural trends in China these days.

The weakness of the book is its lack of any deeper exploration of the human rights abuses and the very serious suppression of dissent that has plagued China for the better part of the past hundred years under different regimes. The abuse has been particularly systematic and ruthless under the Communists, and it is the ugly flip side of the breakneck progress that China has been enjoying in the recent decades.

Overall, this is a very informative and accessible book on Modern China that is well suited for the general readership. It is not a dry scholarly work, and it even indulges in imaginative allegories and analyses on an occasion. It is well worth reading for anyone who is interested in what forces have shaped the Modern China.

[Stephen Wong · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is easy to misunderstand the China of the 20th and early 21st centuries, the China that our grandparents, parents and our own generation know to exist either at the peripheries or at the cores of our imagination or of our day-to-day existence. This is not the China to which attributes of longest enduring civilization and ancientness apply, but rather the China that for a long time was in turmoil and at the mercy of historical forces violent and unappeasing, but that today manufactures all sorts of goods for the supply chain and product-markets, staunchly communist and a one-party state, increasingly prosperous, if also revanchist and starting to throw its weight around in various international fora, with depth of renminbi and yuan pockets, and challenging a supremacy of a system of democracy in the West that is demonstrably for the moment in havoc and militaristic.

What this little volume, recently updated, helps the reader to contend with is the China that has become more open in our time, still beset with unique problems of demographics and environment, but finding ways to reach beyond the embrace of its own ways, its hands full alright, but with a growing if slow capacity to sprinkle influence far beyond its shores. The book investigates China's modernity on at least the three dimensions of society, economy and culture, a work of comparative method that could be applied to another country like Saudi Arabia or Bolivia, but which in China's case yields some other dimensions and heft that try to offset the indeed quite long and continuing span of Chinese civilization. Indeed, a modern China was a distinct project of both the Nationalists and Communists fully in the shadow of Japan's own Meiji Restoration (this year also marking 150 years) and also underfoot of its empire, which briefly unites the ideological differences in the common goal of decolonisation and restoring a nation from foreign invasion and atrocity.

The analytic approach is generally descriptive and non-prescriptive of what China's modernity and postmodernity should look like. That kind of discussion is for a different kind of book perhaps, and about this there is little stake that the author places in the Chinese diaspora all over the world about how this lack of say in Chinese affairs should turn out. That could very well be as it should be because in the Möbius strip of this relationship of the outward-looking and inward-looking peoples of Chinese heritage, the concern becomes indeed one of mutual catching up with relations in the narrowest sense and in the widest sense.

[Sean Hackbarth · Rating 3 out of 5]

To start learning about China, this is a good place to start. In a sitting or two you get a brief history of China's last hundred years, putting its current rise into context. You also begin to get a sense of how it has a "modern" economy and culture.

But don't use this as your sole knowledge about the country. Think of this book as a longer Economist feature piece. What it does is help you get a baseline of understanding.

[Gemma · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice introduction to modern China. Bringing together history, culture, social and economic factors and how these are interconnected to the political decisions made. Some interesting considerations of the origin of disparities within China.

[Will · Rating 3 out of 5]

Less of a history, and more a cultural analysis which seeks to answer the question "is China modern?" Very brief sections on history and economics, long sections on film, television and literature.