To Change China: Western Advisers in China

by Jonathan D. Spence

"To change China" was the goal of foreign missionaries, soldiers, doctors, teachers, engineers, and revolutionaries for more than three hundred years. But the Chinese, while eagerly accepting Western technical advice, clung steadfastly to their own religious and cultural traditions. As a new era of relations between China and the United States begins, the tales in this volume will serve as cautionary histories for businessmen, diplomats, students, or any other foreigners who foolishly believe that they can transform this vast, enigmatic country.

"A fascinating popular book. . . . Mr. Spence has given these careers fascinating first-person detail. He is a skilled craftsman." (John K. Fairbank, The New York Review of Books )

Genres: China, History, Nonfiction, Asia

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

Jonathan D. Spence is a historian specializing in Chinese history. His self-selected Chinese name is Shǐ Jǐngqiān (simplified Chinese: 史景迁; traditional Chinese: 史景遷), which roughly translates to "A historian who admires Sima Qian."

He has been Sterling Professor of History at Yale University since 1993. His most famous book is The Search for Modern China, which has become one of the standard texts on the last several hundred years of Chinese history.

Reviews

[Lars · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mandatory reading for those going to China in any capacity. Many of these men went to China pretending that they were doing so for noble ends, when what they really wanted was to realize dreams and ambitions unfulfilled at home. In turn the country used them back. Their spirit lives on in a thousand cynical laowais drinking their days away in Peking pubs.

[Mk100 · Rating 3 out of 5]

The chapter on the Yale in China program was extremely interesting. But what stands out is how many people believed that simply by showing up and exposing a 4,000-year old civilization to Western ideas of modernization, they could change that civilization immediately or necessarily for the better. This book is about arrogrance as much as it is about good intentions. And of course Spence once again writes with the flair and beauty that makes im such an unusual figure among srious historians.

[Anne Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

An important story, beautifully told. Spence takes us back in time to the various attempts of Western visitors "to change China." Jesuits, military, diplomats, academics -- all of them encounter a society that has an overwhelming ability to subsume their efforts.

[Ensiform · Rating 4 out of 5]

From poor old Adam Schall to the Soviet advisers who helped the expansion of the nuclear arms race, this book tells in brief biographical sketches the stories of several Western advisers who came to China over the millennia in order to improve it. All, as Spence shrewdly shows, ended being used by China, and often left (or died there, alone) with a feeling of dissatisfaction at the failure of their ends (one exception being Norman Bethune, the Communist surgeon who, as Spence put it, used the Chinese to attain a meaningful death). Again and again the Westerners, so sure of the superiority of their ideology as well as their technology, failed because China “sensed that acceptance of a foreign ideology on foreign terms must be a form of submission.” Fascinating reading, and well argued.

[Bernard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty sarcastic to read this book nowadays with the misunderstanding increasing day by day. Maybe we should understand that it is quite impossible to change China indeed. I am not sure how we should understand the whole episode. The historical roots and rhetoric by the government has completely distorted how one perceive the other, and this misunderstanding is further intensified by the modern media. I see no easy way to resolve this, maybe just like the previous western advisers, all efforts are doomed to fail. Technologies still simply be adopted, but ideologies remain.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story, but Spence is better when he's writing about a single subject and/or about the Chinese themselves than about Western interaction with China. Not sure why that is, as Spence is a great writer. This one didn't hold my interest as much as his other books have.

[JJ W · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full of important lesson for any "old China hands" or anyone who interacts with China/Chinese on a regular basis. Surgical in its precision. I would have given five stars if it was less dry.

[Rob Precht · Rating 5 out of 5]

Westerners are still deluding themselves that they can change China. A book as pertinent today as it was when first published at the time of Nixon's trip.

[汪先生 · Rating 4 out of 5]

2015-04-03 08:13:30
史景迁先生十分具有特色的研究史学的方式，以生动的小故事加之以大量的史料，将历史画面电影般的呈现给读者，这些在西方的小人物，给了中国大大的改变，也让我们了解了许多名后期至建国这一时期的历史。

[yuanyi · Rating 4 out of 5]

for book review. fine

[Parker · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating set of tales regarding individuals who sought "to change china" through the spreading of western ideas and practices. Some are more intriguing than others, but overall the book is gripping. Spence explores the concept that westerners have often sought, as the title implies, "to change China". In the end, many of these individuals became far more changed by China than vice versa, and the anecdotes highlight broader themes that foreigners visiting or living in China (as well as western polciymakers) would do well to heed today.

[Robert Bentley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good concise history of western influence in China. Spence writes for the ordinary person to understand the way in which westerners impacted the major cultural and political events in China during some of its most daring times.

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection real life stories about Western advisors in China during the opening of "diplomatic" relations between China and the Western world.

[Christopher Hurtado]

To Change China: Western Advisers in China by Jonathan D. Spence (1980)

[hoffnarr · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun summer read.