Shanghai: China's Gateway to Modernity

by Marie-Claire Bergère, Janet Lloyd (Translator)

A lively account of China's encounter with the modern world through the history of its most dynamic and cosmopolitan city in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Occupied by the Japanese in 1937 and then disfavored by the Communists, Shanghai regained its place as China's Big Apple with the resurgence of entrepreneurial activity and foregn investment in the 1980s.

Genres: China, History, Nonfiction, Politics

520 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Hadrian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Useful summary of the history of Shanghai, and its transition from treaty-port to communism and then whatever comes after that. Bergère has a gift for narrative writing, and her use of archival sources and memoirs is impressive. I wish there was more after the year 2000, but this is still a lively portrait. Shanghai may not be the only symbol of China's engagement with "modernity" these days, but it is still a jewel in the crown.

[Sinta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Extremely comprehensive, fairly well structured, often didn’t give enough national or conceptual context - required a lot of side-AI chat to be able to understand Shanghai’s continuities and breaks with the rest of China. Overall, 4.5 stars for its category but unfortunately can’t compete in general

[L · Rating 5 out of 5]

上海自第一次鸦片战争到上世纪末150多年历史在一位法国汉学家笔下跃然纸上，她的兴衰沉浮，以及由此可见的全国全世界的风云都由曲回迂折中不失优雅精准的笔触娓娓写来；精英、小市民、流氓恶棍，中央、地方，政治、经济、思想、艺术，囊括于中