China: A History (Volume 2): From the Great Qing Empire through The People's Republic of China,

by Harold M. Tanner

Available in one or two volumes, this accessible, yet rigorous, introduction to the political, social, and cultural history of China provides a balanced and thoughtful account of the development of Chinese civilization from its beginnings to the present day. Each volume includes ample illustrations, a full complement of maps, a chronological table, extensive notes, recommendations for further reading and an index. Volume 1: From Neolithic Cultures through the Great Qing Empire (10,000 BCE―1799). Volume 2: From the Great Qing Empire through the People's Republic of China (1644―2009).

Genres: History, China, Nonfiction, Asia, School

304 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 2010

Reviews

[Zachary Littrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is no way on this earth for Tanner to write about everything in an exceptionally eventful century, so he doesn't, and that's good. He instead covers it as he darn pleases. Which is pretty necessary, because whew 20th-21st century China is a complex beast.

Mao argued that every phenomenon and situation is rife with contradiction. A revolutionary's task, he said, was to grasp and resolve the most important contradiction.

Sure, I think in this chunk the gaps are more noticeable. We barely get anything about China's war with Vietnam, and Tanner seems focused much more on the broad political, societal, and art developments but not much time given to details like the growth of science in China. Or how about the advent of Pinyin or efforts to simplify Chinese characters? But what he does cover is what he feels is needed to understand why things developed the way they do: the politics, society, art, and way of life in China are, for better or for worse, completely combined now on purpose.

I think he also makes a pretty smart move not to bother too often comparing the Guomindang or CCP to past dynasties from the previous volume. Besides being surface level, the comparisons are either obvious (you gotta maintain your agriculture, folks), misleading, or implied. There is a constant pressure on Mao and others to reclaim the glory but not repeat the mistakes of the Qing. And they sometimes succeed or instead tumble headfirst into unique mistakes of their own.

Tanner is a really good, but also fair, storyteller. He gives every leader or figure or effort their pros and cons, whether Nationalist or Communist or Manchurian. He's unrepentant in condemning the lunacy of the Great Leap Forward, but also gives credit where it's due to Mao and his successors' realpolitik compromises. It's tempting to call China an economic success story with some tremendous warts after the decades of poverty and turmoil and foreign abuses, but it's a much more interesting story than that.

If there's any takeaway from the scope of the two volumes, it is a difficult talent to write accurately and compellingly about China's history -- but anyone who claims to know China's future is full of it. All it takes is one small event, even an accident, to set the wheels of change in motion across the entire nation all over again.

[Drake McCrary · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like the first part of this volume should have been added to volume one and 20th century after the abdication of last emperor should gotten its own volume. Especially since Tanner seemed to be in such a hurry to get to the 20th century that he glossed over large sections of 19th. After the amount of detail paid to seemly trivial things in first volume, this second volume felt like a rushed after thought.

[Evan · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone already familiar with modern Chinese history, I enjoyed reading this book. It reinforced what I already knew and introduced new perspectives. The book has a lot of information but it is not particularly dense. I'm interested in reading the first volume now, because I'm less familiar with ancient Chinese history.

[Robert D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written and very readable. Was disappointed as it doesn’t cover the period under Xi Jinping which was very interred in reading about. One of the final comments about who writes and who rewrites history is something to note as so much of history is constantly being rewritten as new “facts” become known and who is now doing the analysis.

[Josef · Rating 4 out of 5]

Glad I was able to read this second part in the Chinese histories. The author, choosing not to cover every facet of change for china in the 20th centuries, touches on some of the key changes like the rise of the new republic of China and the continuing conflict over Taiwan. Overall a much smaller book than the first that is worth the read for anyone interested in a broad sweep of Chinese history.

[Abid · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative on the time period

[Enopoletus Harding · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very bad book; omits almost the entire pre-1900 Qing era (especially the 19th century) and hardly mentions the Chinese Civil War and the Korean War. The treatment after about 1920 is better but still very surface level. At least there's some stuff about WWII there (which is probably the best part of this book). Waste of time.

[Honza Fedak · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am not an expert on Chinese history, so I cannot comment on how accurate the book is but I appreciated how it managed to succinctly summarize the long history of China into mere 275 pages and yet provide enough background to explain where China is today and what the key economic, social, and political problems are.

I grew up in socialism, just in a different country (former Czechoslovakia) and the passages describing life in Maoistic China ringed very familiar and true.

I highly recommend this book as a great overview and introduction to history of China.

[Vern]

A