From the Opium War to the May Fourth Movement ebook

by Hu Sheng

The book is written in five parts, with 27 chapters in all, and carries a preface. The author analyzes modern Chinese history in terms of three waves of revolution

The book is written in five parts, with 27 chapters in all, and carries a preface. The author analyzes modern Chinese history in terms of three waves of revolution. In Part I, he writes about the Opium War and the Taiping Peasant Revolution, the first wave of revolution; in Part II, about the formation of a semicolonial and semifeudal regime, which was ultimately to lead to a new wave of revolution; in Part III, about the Reform Movement of 1898 and the Yi He Tuan (Boxer) Movement, which was the second wave.

The book is written in five parts, with 27 chapters in all, and carries a preface.

19 May Fourth Movement Attempt to eliminate old customs/ways from society Outrage over Versailles Treaty and Japanese taking over German territory in China Attempt to eliminate old customs/ways from society Intellectual turning point Rise of Communist thought. 20 Student protests at the Temple of Heaven A Government in Crisis – Post WWI (1917) Ignored at T of V Students revolt Reject old customs and ways Rise in revolutionary thought Expulsion of literati Rise of communist thought Country devolving into two factions What two groups are going to battle for power? Student protests at the Temple.

Commissioner Lin Zexu burning opium at Humen Signing of the Treaty of Nanking The Sino-Japanese War: the battle scene The Sino-Japanese War: the sunken ships Sino-Japanese War: the occupied fortress Empress Dowager Cixi (慈禧太后; pinyin: Cíxǐ Tàihòu; WadeGiles: Tz'u-Hsi T'ai-hou) (1835 –1908) The Guangxu Emperor (光緒帝) (August 14, 1871–November 14, 1908), born Zaitian (載湉), was the tenth emperor of the Manchu Qing dynasty, and the ninth Qing emperor to rule over China proper

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Modernized Country vs. Traditional Country The Opium War Who is going to win? . Traditional Country The Opium War Who is going to win? Why? What is going to happen next? . May Fourth Movement Student demonstrations Outrage at Versailles Treaty Attempt to eliminate old customs/ways from society First attempt to modernize – NOT in the European tradition Intellectual turning point Rise of Communist thought.

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From the Opium War to the May Fourth Movement: Volume .

From the Opium War to the May Fourth Movement: Volume 1. Jan 1, 1991. by Dun J. Li and Hu Sheng. Temporarily out of stock. Back to top. Get to Know Us. Careers.

Opium Wars, two mid-19th-century armed conflicts between China and Western countries. The first Opium War (1839–42) was fought between China and Britain; the second Opium War (1856–60), also known as the Arrow War or the Anglo-French War in China, was fought by Britain and France against China. The opium trade continued, and China had to compensate Great Britain for its losses, give Hong Kong Island to the British, and increase the number of treaty ports where the British could trade and reside. Great Britain and France won the second Opium War.

From the Opium War to the May Fourth Movement, a major work by Hu Sheng, is the fruit of years of research on modern Chinese history.

Using primary sources, this book analyzes the key events in modern Chinese history, and reflects the Chinese people's struggle against foreign aggressors and their own feudal rulers as they fought for national independence, democracy and freedom from 1840 to 1919.

Following his earlier work Imperialism and Chinese Politics, this book is yet another contribution by Hu Sheng to the study of modem Chinese history.

Grillador

This review refers to both volumes of Dr Hu's history as published by the Foreign Languages Press, Beijing, in English in 1991. The translation of these volumes, by Mr Dun J Li, is from the Chinese version published in 1981.
After a brief review of early Western penetration along the Chinese coast, the book focuses on approximately 80 years starting from the first Anglo-Chinese War. It has one over-riding value for the student of this period of Chinese history, it is derived from Chinese sources - books, letters and memorials - most of which have previously been unavailable in English and it is from the views contained in these sources that the book's fascination arises. I cannot over-state the value to the student of seeing this period with Chinese eyes and the book is worth buying for this reason alone. Having said that there are difficulties with the text.
Dr Hu is a self-taught historian. He became a party member when he was 20 years old and wrote 'Imperialism and Chinese Politics' ten years later in 1947 (also available in English but I have not read it). This latest work (published when he was in his sixties) couched in Marxist terminology, but with occasional references to Morse and other lesser known Western authorities, reviews the period from the standpoint of class struggle. This novel approach helps to bring out aspects of Western aggression against China that are not readily apparent from the Western sources. For example, the increasing loss of prestige of the Ching Government with the Chinese people following the Anglo-Chinese Wars is presented here as a cause of the myriad rebellions that characterised the period from the Tai Pings to the Boxers. The derivative insight - that when Western aggression exposed the Ching Government's incapacity, all the subsequent problems that Western countries experienced were bound to happen - is quite compellingly put. This is the value of a book that deals with a familiar subject using new source material and it is very welcome.
However, Dr Hu has an ideological axe to grind and he is not content to let the story tell itself. Had he done so, the power of the facts would have achieved his purpose. There can be no doubt that China was treated by the West in a way that would have been inconceivable had it been a European country, but this book was apparently written for a domestic audience. Thus on every page, mixed in with the interesting quotations and factual information, are opinions and analyses, some of which are insightful, others surprising while quite some few are frankly implausible. The main source of the implausible opinions offered is apparently a lack of familiarity with the realities of international diplomacy and the strict limits those realities place on the exercise of a country's self-interest. I should have preferred these opinions and comments to be annexed as separate chapters or perhaps the two volumes re-edited to produced one of fact and one of opinion. In that way the student will not be confused. A further but minor difficulty is with the place and personal names which are in Pinyin. A glossary would have been helpful.
This book will be most appreciated by those students who have already acquired a detailed knowledge of the period from Western sources and seek for comparative information. As a check on some of the tacit assumptions underlying Western histories it is very useful. I recommend it.

caster

I have made some comments on this volume that may be found in the review for Volume One of Dr Hu's work.