- Jubilee offer: spend £10 or more on any product sold by Amazon.co.uk on or before June 6 and you can buy "The Diamond Jubilee - A Classical Celebration Album" for just £2.50. Here's how (terms and conditions apply)
-
Seasonal Offer:
This title is part of our Seasonal Offers promotion.
Modern China
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in Modern China: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Special Offers and Product Promotions
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
A brilliant essay. (Timothy Garton, TLS )
Product Description
China today is never out of the news: from human rights controversies and the continued legacy of Tiananmen Square, to global coverage of the Beijing Olympics, and the Chinese 'economic miracle'. It seems a country of contradictions: a peasant society with some of the world's most futuristic cities, heir to an ancient civilization that is still trying to find a modern identity. This Very Short Introduction offers the reader with no previous knowledge of China a variety of ways to understand the world's most populous nation, giving a short, integrated picture of modern Chinese society, culture, economy, politics and art.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
This assessment comes from the book New China by W. Y. Fullerton and C. E. Wilson. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
This assessment comes from the book New China by W. Y. Fullerton and C. E. Wilson. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
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.
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.
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
China is rapidly mounting headlines of late and it's currently rumored by Economists and other analysts that it is on the verge of becoming a new world superpower rivaling the USA.
Because of such talk I picked up the book. I knew nothing about China. Nothing about its complicated history, its society, the evolution and nature of Chinese Communism, and so on and so forth.
This book is a good start. It guides you through the subject matter and the author - Rana Mitter - knows his stuff.
In fact my only gripe with the book is the way it is arranged and divided up. He splits the book into about 5 chapters. The first two set it up, then you get 3 concise analyses of China's economy, society and culture, and a one and a half page conclusion.
The conclusion was very abrupt and I felt like there should be more to know (particularly about China's political make-up) but when you think about it - the book has succeeded in its purpose of providing a 'very short introduction' to the subject and given me incentive to research further. I am now about to read Spence's Search for Modern China, and am looking into the further readings that Mitter has suggested at the end of the book.
A satisfying piece.
Because of such talk I picked up the book. I knew nothing about China. Nothing about its complicated history, its society, the evolution and nature of Chinese Communism, and so on and so forth.
This book is a good start. It guides you through the subject matter and the author - Rana Mitter - knows his stuff.
In fact my only gripe with the book is the way it is arranged and divided up. He splits the book into about 5 chapters. The first two set it up, then you get 3 concise analyses of China's economy, society and culture, and a one and a half page conclusion.
The conclusion was very abrupt and I felt like there should be more to know (particularly about China's political make-up) but when you think about it - the book has succeeded in its purpose of providing a 'very short introduction' to the subject and given me incentive to research further. I am now about to read Spence's Search for Modern China, and am looking into the further readings that Mitter has suggested at the end of the book.
A satisfying piece.
Format:Paperback
The author does a pukka job of explaining the modern situation of this often enigmatic nation. Though Chinese characters look almost magical and mysterious to many Westerners they are usually about mundane things such as washing powder and the latest gossip. This book helps to demystify China and shows that the Chinese are not so very different from the rest of us. All in all an excellent little book to help understand China.
By way of contrast I suggest reading Chinese Sketches: Life in 19th Century China as it will show how China has changed in the last hundred years or so.
By way of contrast I suggest reading Chinese Sketches: Life in 19th Century China as it will show how China has changed in the last hundred years or so.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Business, Finance & Law > Economics
- Books > History > Countries & Regions > Asia > China
- Books > History > World History
- Books > Science & Nature > Earth Sciences & Geography > Education > Higher Education
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Government & Politics > Countries & Regions > Far East > China
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Government & Politics > Countries & Regions > Middle East
- Books > Travel & Holiday > Countries & Regions > Asia > China
- Books > Travel & Holiday > Guidebook Series
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
