Asian history Books

Book SynopsisAn elaborate and pervasive set of practices, called guanxi, underlies everyday social relationships in contemporary China. Obtaining and changing job assignments, buying certain foods and consumer items, getting into good hospitals, buying train...Trade ReviewI heartily recommend this book. It is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the meaning of social relationships in Chinese society. -- Gary G. Hamilton * American Journal of Sociology *To what extent did traditional customs and practices persist under the surface during the decades of Mao's rule, or are present forms a genuine revival? To what extent do these revivals testify to the enduring strength of the Chinese cultural tradition or are they to be explained much more as reflections of popular experiences during the socialist and reform eras' Mayfair Yang's book represents one of the most ambitious and systematic attempts to deal with a whole range of such questions. -- Martin King Whyte * The Journal of Asian Studies *

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Book SynopsisIn this lively book, Benedict R. O'G Anderson explores the cultural and political contradictions that have arisen from two critical facts in Indonesian history—that while the Indonesian nation is young, the Indonesian state is ancient, originating in...Trade Review"A wonderful collection, rich in ideas and interpretations. In my reading, the central theme of this book is the crisis in Javanese culture which began in the seventeenth century and the attempts of successive generations of Javanese-Indonesians to deal with the crisis." -- R. William Liddle"These writings, largely unknown the wide audience Anderson now commands, offer specialists and nonspecialists alike a fascinating perspective on Indonesian culture, as well as an intellectual chronology of a major Southeast Asianist and social theorist." -- J. Joseph Errington

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Book SynopsisSince World War II, Japan has become not only a model producer of high-tech consumer goods, but also-despite minimal spending on defense-a leader in innovative technology with both military and civilian uses.Trade ReviewA masterful study of the Japanese arms and aircraft industries, analyzing the interrelationship between military and civilian technology since the mid-nineteenth century. * Foreign Affairs *This book is a pleasure to read. It is a well-argued, lucid account and explanation of Japanese economic success since the Second World War; it is an excellent example of how, historically, to tackle questions of technology and technological innovation and their relation to economic change; and it provides fascinating insight into the debate about the role of national defense in either stimulating or suffocating economic activity. * Business History *

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Book SynopsisOrientalism, as explored by Edward Said in 1978, was a far more complex phenomenon than many suspected, being homogenous along the lines of neither culture nor time. This title provides a genealogy for the critique of orientalism by examining the divergence of the British and French colonial experiences.Trade Review“This collection offers a heretofore unavailable genealogy of the global through the prism of orientalism. The result is both a primer for students, and a provocation to History—as a discipline and as an instrument of imperial power.”—Antoinette Burton, author of Burdens of History and Dwelling in the Archive“A terrific group of essays. And the introduction is magisterial.”—James Clifford, author The Predicament of Culture and Routes“This book responds critically to the influence of Said's Orientalism, assessing its achievements and limitations. It makes a valuable contribution to the debate on orientalism.”—Talal Asad, author of Genealogies of Religion and Formations of the Secular“These essays develop a remarkable perspective on Edward Said’s Orientalism, placing it in a long historical context of critiques of colonial representations, and deepening our understanding of the very meaning of modernity.”—Joan W. Scott, author of The Politics of the Veil"Genealogies of Orientalism remains an interesting and extremely valuable addition to the growing oeuvre of collections devoted to orientalism and its critical interrogation."—Michael S. Dodson, Journal of World HistoryTable of ContentsIllustrations Preface Introduction: Genealogies of Orientalism Edmund Burke III and David Prochaska Part 1. History1. Orientalist Empiricism: Transformations of Colonial Knowledge David Ludden2. The Command of Language and the Language of Command Bernard S. Cohn3. The Sociology of Islam: The French Tradition Edmund Burke III4. Scientific Production and Position in the Intellectual and Political Fields: The Cases of Augustin Berque and Joseph Desparmet Fanny Colonna Part 2. Culture5. The "Passionate Nomad" Reconsidered: A European Woman in l'Algérie française (Isabelle Eberhardt, 18771904) Julia Clancy-Smith6. The Unspeakable Limits of Rape: Colonial Violence and Counterinsurgency Jenny Sharpe7. Telling Photos David Prochaska8. Ethnography and Exhibitionism at the Expositions Universelles Zeynep Çelik and Leila Kinney Part 3. Power9. Orientalist Counterpoints and Postcolonial Politics: Caste, Community, and Culture in Tamil India Nicholas B. Dirks10. Taboo Memories and Diasporic Visions: Columbus, Palestine, and Arab-Jews Ella Shohat11. Chinese History and the Question of Orientalism Arif Dirlik12. Profiteering Women and Primitive Communists: Propriety and Scandal in Interwar Japanese Studies of Okinawa Alan S. Christy Source Acknowledgments Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisPresents Frederick Funston's firsthand account of his adventures in the Cuban Revolution and the Philippine-American war. Conversational yet informative, Funston's memoir relates his experience with the vigour and joviality of a friend sharing war stories over a drink and a cigar.Trade Review"This memoir is a window into America's early ventures in intervention and nation-building. The University of Nebraska Press deserves thanks for making it once more widely available."—Graham A. Cosmas, Journal of Military HistoryTable of ContentsCUBAN EXPERIENCESI. To Cuba as a FilibusterII. Cascorra, the First Cuban SiegeIII. The Fall of GuaimaroIV. A Defeat and a VictoryPHILIPPINE EXPERIENCESI. The Making of a RegimentII. Caloocan and Its TrenchesIII. Up the Railroad to MalolosIV. From Malolos to San FernandoV. San Fernando and the Beginning of the Guerilla WarVI. More of the Guerilla WarVII. The Capture of Emilio AguinaldoVIII. Closing DaysIndex

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Book SynopsisThe biography of Masanori Murakami, the first Japanese player in the Major Leagues and a pioneering figure for future players from Asia. Trade Review“Fitts, coupled with Murakami’s voice and experiences, tells the proud tale of a young man who was whisked into the spotlight and became a shining example of the equality that could be reached between the Japanese and Americans on the baseball diamond. Reading Mashi brings us all a few steps closer to what it was like to be there on this landmark journey.”—San Francisco Examiner "This is a an excellent baseball story, a story of cultural adaptation and conflict, and above all the story of one man’s opportunity and the obstacles he overcame to make the most of that opportunity."—Duncan Jamieson, Journal of Sport Literature"Mashi is a nice look at a man and career that deserved to be more than footnotes in baseball history."—Bob D'Angelo, Tampa Tribune“Mashi Murakami’s impact can still be felt in baseball stadiums on both sides of the Pacific. He is a pioneer in every sense of the word—a true ambassador for the game of baseball.”—Allan H. “Bud” Selig, the ninth commissioner of baseball“Rob Fitts has fabulously transported us back to Mashi’s family roots, childhood passion for the grand game, and his trajectory to become the first Major Leaguer from Japan. It is a discovery and rediscovery of culture, baseball dynamics/politics, and the man who transcended the sport as a gigantic touchstone ‘pioneer’ for future players from Asia.”—Kerry Yo Nakagawa, author of Through a Diamond: 100 Years of Japanese American Baseball“Sometimes historical analysis can’t compete with a good personal story, as Robert K. Fitts—a baseball expert and former archaeologist—proves with his newest book, Mashi.”—Japan Times "Robert Fitts has written a book that needed writing."—Joel S. Franks, Journal of Sport History“Robert K. Fitts, an award-winning sportswriter with a good grasp of Japan’s baseball culture, clearly explicates the factors at play in this exotic baseball narrative—one that has become increasingly relevant as MLB extends its recruitment strategies internationally.”—Robert Birnbaum, Daily Beast "Mashi will take you along on his eventful ride from Yamanashi Prefecture to San Francisco."—Rashaad Jorden, JETwit.com"Robert Fitts has undertaken a great task with this book."—Gregg's Baseball BookcaseTable of Contents AcknowledgmentsChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 5Chapter 6Chapter 7Chapter 8Chapter 9Chapter 10Chapter 11Chapter 12Chapter 13Chapter 14Chapter 15Chapter 16Chapter 17Chapter 18AfterwordAppendixNote on Sources Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisExplores the development of Taiwanese baseball and the influence of baseball on Taiwan's cultural identity in its colonial years and beyond as a clear departure from narratives of assimilation and resistance.Trade Review"Empire of Infields provides a deeply nuanced analysis of the complicated historical interactions of sport and colonialism in Taiwan."—J. S. Franks, Choice"Harney's Empire of Infields joins Sayuri Guthrie-Shimizu's Trans-Pacific Field of Dreams: How Baseball Linked the United States and Japan in Peace and War (2012) as an important work describing the evolution of baseball as an international sport. And while soccer, golf, basketball, or tennis may have a more truly global reach, he demonstrates well how baseball came to establish its secure niche in the world."—Paul Dunscomb, H-Asia"Harney's Empire of Infields is a book for those interested in who the Taiwanese are, by going back to the root and the route of the game of baseball. It goes beyond simple assimilation/resistance dichotomy via sport in terms of nation building, and it is well-written and the research masterfully handled."—Tzu-hsuan Chen, Asian Journal of Sport History & Culture“In this well-reported, wonderfully conceived book, John Harney has mapped not just the history of Taiwanese baseball but the role the game has played in the evolution of a contested Taiwanese national identity. This is a kaleidoscopic analysis of the entanglement of Japanese colonialism, Taiwanese identity, and nationalism, politics, and globalization.”—George Gmelch, author of Baseball beyond Our Borders: An International Pastime“John Harney has utilized a host of primary sources to produce a nuanced and detailed reinterpretation of Taiwanese identity via the historical role of baseball. He offers an alternative analysis to the usual assimilation and resistance frameworks in other works as he negotiates the contested and ambiguous identity of a nation in limbo. A must-read for scholars of East Asian studies and sport historians.”—Gerald R. Gems, past president of the North American Society for Sport HistoryTable of ContentsNote on Transliteration and Choice of Team Names Acknowledgments Introduction: National Games 1. A Japanese Sport in the Colony 2. Waseda Baseball and Japan’s Place in the World 3. Barnstormers or Emissaries of Empire? 4. The Road to Kōshien 5. Kanō 6. Chiang’s China and Taiwanese Baseball 7. Echoes of Empire 8. Hongye Conclusion: Baseball’s Long Goodbye Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThe impact of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-5 was incalculable. It was the first victory by an Asian power over a European one since the Mongol invasions of the thirteenth century. This title presents the story of combat and a source of insights about a relatively obscure but immensely influential conflict.Trade Review"On 24 August 1905, twenty-five year old Lieutenant Tadayoshi Sakurai of the Imperial Japanese Army was badly wounded during an assault upon Russian defences at Port Arthur in Manchuria... The experiences he relates are often graphic, relayed in a florid style and at a breathless pace which eerily portray the chaos and confusion of battle. But this is not just a moving and outstanding account of the horror of war. Sakurai's account of operations are relevant to the modern officer... This book is a fascinating portrayal of a junior leader's experience of war."--The Wish Stream, Summer 1999

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Book SynopsisJapan’s official surrender to the United States in 1945brought to an end one of the most bitter and brutal military conflicts of the twentieth century. U.S. government officials then faced the task of transforming Japan from enemy to ally, not only in top-level diplomatic relations but also in the minds of the American public.Only ten years after World War II, this transformationbecame a successas middle-class American consumers across the country were embracing Japanese architecture, films, hobbies, philosophy, and religion. Cultural institutions on both sides of the Pacific along with American tastemakers promoted a new image of Japan in keeping with State Department goals. Focusing on traditions instead of modern realities, Americans came to view Japan as a nation that was sophisticated and beautiful yet locked harmlessly in a timeless “Oriental” past. What ultimately led many Americans to embrace Japanese culture was a desire to appear affluent and properly &Trade Review"Mettler's study does a fine job of bringing much nuance and texture to the place of Japan in postwar American life and culture."—Mari Yoshihara, Journal of American History"How to Reach Japan by Subway demonstrates the promises of mining the cultural archive of U.S. consumerism for a richer understanding of elite American imaginings of the other at the peak of U.S. global power."—Andrew C. McKevitt, American Historical Review“A wonderful contribution to our knowledge in the field of twentieth-century U.S. history, American studies, Asian American studies, and America in the world. It is a fun and exciting read.”—Hiroshi Kitamura, associate professor of history at the College of William and Mary “With elegant erudition, Meghan Warner Mettler explains why and how Americans found themselves embracing the culture of their recently defeated enemy. . . . A pleasure to read, Mettler’s book ultimately suggests that war and peacemaking also structure private, individual choices about taste in a consumer society.”—Naoko Shibusawa, associate professor of history at Brown University and author of America’s Geisha Ally: Reimagining the Japanese Enemy Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Humble Leaders of the Free World: Historical Context of the Shibui Aesthetic 2. Samurai at the Sure Seaters: 1950s “Highbrow” Japanese Movies in the United States 3. Friendship through Flowers: Americans’ Appreciation of Ikebana and Bonsai 4. How to Be American with Shibui Things: Japanese Aesthetics in the American Home 5. Satori in America: Intellectuals and Artists Discover Zen Buddhism 6. Zen Goes “Boom”: The Popularity of Zen Buddhism, Both Beat and Square 7. Japan for the Rest of Us: Non-Shibui Japanese Imports in the Postwar Era Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisExplains the structure of the feudal society, describes the rise of economic life and tells of the impact of Commodore Perry's arrival in 1853. Bibliographical notes.Trade Review"It should remain the standard work in Western languages for a long time." The American Historical Review "Even in its present incomplete state the trilogy stands as a great, perhaps the greatest, contribution of Western scholarship to the study of the societies of East Asia." The Western Political Quarterly "A masterpiece of narrative history." The Annals

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"The picture that emerges should not only be of great interest to students of Chinese history, of religion, and of cultural interaction, but may also throw light on the renewed process of borrowing and adaptation taking place in China today. Despite the formidable scope and complexity of Professor Wright's subject, he succeeds in handling it with masterly succinctness, lucidity, and insight." -Derk Bodde ,The Annals "Professor Wright's masterly and readable book ... [signals] the directions towards a genuine history of Chinese Buddhism. For some time to come, this book will furnish both specialists and lay inquirers with their clearest frame of reference." -Richard H. Robinson,Journal of the American Oriental Society "A sound, well-balanced, and well-written account of the present state of knowledge and opinion which can be read with pleasure and profit by the general reader and at the same time provides a synthesis from which further investigation can proceed." The Times Literary Supplement

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Book SynopsisTable of ContentsCONTENTS II III IV VI VII VIII IX

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Book SynopsisThe author presents a convincing new interpretation of the origins and nature of the agrarian crisis that gripped the North China Plain in the two centuries before the Revolution. His extensive research included eighteenth-century homicide case records, a nineteenth-century country government archive, large quantities of 1930''s Japanese ethnographic materials, and his own field studies in 1980.Through a comparison of the histories of small family farms and larger scale managerial farms, the author documents and illustrates the long-term trends of agricultural commercialization, social stratification, and mounting population pressure in the peasant economy. He shows how those changes, in the absence of dynamic economic growth, combined over the course of several centuries to produce a majority, not simply of land-short peasants or of exploited tenants and agricultural laborers, but of poor peasants who required both family farming and agricultural wage income to survive. ThisTrade Review'Huang's book is extraordinarily rich, and I believe it to be the best sustained study of rural north China yet written.' Jonathan Spence, The New York Review of BooksTable of ContentsNote of place-names; Part I. Background: 1. The issues; 2. The sources and the villages; 3. The ecological setting; Part II. Economic Involution and Social Change: 4. Managerial farming and family farming in the 1930's; 5. The small-peasant and estate economies of the early Qing; 6. Commercialization and social stratification in the Qing; 7. Accelerated commercialization in the twentieth century; 8. Managerial farming and family farming: draft-animal use; 9. Managerial farming and family farming: labor use; 10. The underdevelopment of managerial farming; 11. The persistence of small-peasant family farming; 12. The commercialization of production relations; Part III. The Village and the State: 13. Villages under the Qing state; 14. Changes in the village community; 15. Village and state in the twentieth century; 16. Conclusion; Appendixes; Character list; Index.

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Book SynopsisIn this comprehensive analysis of thirty-five years of population change in the People''s Republic of China, the author highlights China''s shifting population policies and pieces together the available data, assessing and adjusting them as necessary in order to discover the actual population changes.Trade Review'Until the publication of this magnificent volume there has been no single work that presents both authoritative figures on the magnitude of recent population changes and reasoned analysis of their origins and implications ... The book is beautifully written and printed, has fine graphs and tables, and includes an excellent map.'The American Historical ReviewTable of Contents1. Introduction 2. The quality of China's population data 3. Health and morbidity 4. Mortality 5. The setting for fertility decline 6. Late marriage and birth planning 7. The one-child family campaign 8. Fertility 9. Population distribution, internal migration, and ethnic groups 10. Review and prospect Appendixes Abbreviations Notes Bibliography Index.

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Book SynopsisIn this second volume of a two-volume social history of Hankow the focus is on the people of Hankow, in all their ethnic diversity, occupational variety, constant mobility, and social bonds.Trade Review"Rowe's earlier Hankow volume was such a superb book one really wondered how he could get another study of equaly quality from the same city in the same time period. But he has done it. There really are few historians who combine empirical richness with analytical incisiveness as well as Rowe does. And this book is Rowe at his best, a book of rare importance that takes the comparison of China and Europe seriously, and thus helps to bring Chinese history into the larger discourse of the historical discipline. It is truly a masterly job." -Joseph W. Esherick ,University of OregonTable of ContentsIntroduction; Part I. The City: 1. City people; 2. Urban space; Part II. Community: 3. Popular welfare; 4. Public goods and public services; Part III. Conflict: 5. Structures of conflict; 6. Dangerous classes and laboring classes; 7. True believers; Part IV. Control; 8. Forces of order; 9. Crisis and response; Conclusion; Notes; Selected bibliography; Character list; Index.

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Book SynopsisThis pathbreaking work argues that the major intellectual trend in China from the 17th through the early 19th century was Confucian ritualism, as expressed in ethics, classical learning, and discourse on lineage.Trade Review"Wide-ranging, exhaustively documented, bold in its interpretations, and attuned simultaneously to questions of intellectual and social history—a rarity in sinological studies—this work will cause a sweeping reassessment of the eighteenth century in modern China's 'Confucian' past. The author's exciting new interpretation of textual scholarship and classical studies both challenges existing theories in modern Chinese intellectual history and adds rich support for new studies of social change at the local level in late imperial times."—Susan Mann, University of California, Davis"Excellent. . . . Much of Chow's book is devoted to delineating the relationship between scholarly debates on ritual and concrete efforts at lineage building. In this endeavor he pulls together several major strands of recent scholarship on the Ch'ing: work on intellectual trends, elite patterns of dominance, lineage development, ritual, and popular culture."—Journal of Asian Studies"Chow has produced a work of superb scholarship, fluently written and beautifully researched. . . . One of the landmarks of the current reconstruction of the social philosophy of the Qing dynasty. . . . Chow's book is indispensable. It has illuminating analyses of many mainstream writers, institutions, and social categories in eighteenth-century China which have never previously been examined."—Canadian Journal of HistoryChow's monograph moves ritual to center stage in late imperial social and intellectual history, and the author makes a powerful case for doing so. . . . Because the author understands the intellectual history of late Ming and Qing as the history of a movement, or successive movements, of fundamental social reform, he has also made an important contribution to social and political history as these were related to intellectual history."—Journal of Chinese Religion"Chow's book is an excellent contribution to recent scholarship on the intellectual history of the Confucian tradition and provides a balance for other studies that have emphasized ideas to the exclusion of symbols."—The Historian"...rich, meticulously researched, and theoretically informed..."—Journal of Interdisciplinary HistoryTable of ContentsReign periods of the Ming and Ch'ing dynasties Introduction 1. The crisis of the confucian order and didactic responses 2. Ritualist ethics and textual purism in the K'ang-hsi reign 3. Lineage discourse: gentry, local society, and the state 4. Ancestral rites and lineage in early Ch'ing scholarship 5. Ritual and the classics in the early Ch'ing 6. Linguistic purism and the hermeneutics of the Han learning movement 7. Ritualist ethics and the Han learning movement 8. Ritualism and gentry culture: women and lineage Conclusion Reference matter Notes Bibliography Character list Index.

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Book SynopsisThis work analyses the recurring form of warrior government known as the Bakafu or Shogunate, that ruled Japan for nearly 700 years throughout the medieval period.Trade Review'It reflects the increased depth of our understanding of Japanese history ... Many of the essays present new perspectives and raise questions with which specialists will grapple for some time. Nonspecialists who teach Japanese history will also find that the patience required to digest some of the material will be rewarded with new insights that will help make premodern Japanese history intelligible to undergraduates.'The Journal of Asian StudiesTable of ContentsContents Jansen Marius B. Mass Jeffrey P. Mass Jeffrey P. Goble Andrew Gay Suzanne Harrington Lorraine F. Arnesen Peter J. Susser Bernard Hauser William B. Bolitho Harold Hauser William B.

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Book SynopsisThe Tiandihui, also known as the Heaven and Earth Association or the Triads, was one of the earliest, largest, and most enduring of the Chinese secret societies that have played crucial roles at decisive junctures in modern Chinese history. These organizations were characterized by ceremonial rituals, often in the form of blood oaths, that brought people together for a common goal.Some were organized for clandestine, criminal, or even seditious purposes by people alienated from or at the margins of society. Others were organized for mutual protection or the administration of local activities by law-abiding members of a given community.The common perception in the twentieth century, both in China and in the West, was that the Tiandihui was founded by Chinese patriots in the seventeenth century for the purpose of overthrowing the Qing (Manchu) dynasty and restoring the Ming (Chinese). This view was put forward by Sun Yat-sen and other revolutionaries who claimed that, liTrade Review"An important book. . . . Murray has astutely sifted through a huge body of primary and secondary sources in both Chinese and English to present an excellent historiographical study of the origins of the Heaven and Earth Society. . . . This is a book well worth reading."—China Review International

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Book SynopsisA work unique in the sweep of its design and scope, intended expressly for the general reader interested in human history and culture, this is a vivid panoramic survey of the vast course of Chinese civilization from prehistory to 1850, when the Old China began the agonizing transition to the new.Trade Review"An admirable success. It is the embodiment of great Sinological acumen and experience and of a lovingly painstaking scholarship, beautifully presented. Moreover, it is a book that deploys its learning gracefully and succinctly, with a rhetorical modesty that is likely to wear very well on its many future readers. . . . Professor Hucker has produced a most attractive harvest of the many labors of his distinguished scholarship and teaching career, and we should be grateful."—Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies"The genius of the book lies in its organization. . . . It is arranged in such a way that one can read it straight through for a comprehensive view of China's past; or one can read it topically, as a record of major events, or as a political-institutional history, or socio-economic history, or the history of ideas, or literary or art history. . . . It is an eminently sound introduction to its subject, a work compiled with evident thought and care."—History"[The] achievement of Professor Hucker is a formidable one. His work is a beautifully balanced one, organized with logic and clarity. His interpretations, if leaning to the safe side, are invariably sound. His erudition is carried lightly and there is found throughout, an awareness of the needs of the student. . . . In sum, Hucker has produced a readable and comprehensive text. It will undoubtedly become a standard in college courses and it can be highly recommended to anyone who seeks a solid yet painless introduction to the civilization of traditional China."—Monumenta Serica (Germany)"Charles O. Hucker is not only a name, it is a quality mark, and to Chinese history China's Imperial Past is an excellent introduction. It is an extremely well written and well structured account of China's political, social, economic and cultural history from the beginning through the first half of the nineteenth century."—Acta Orientalia"The book is an ambitious one, attempting to encompass over four thousand years of Chinese history and culture in slightly more than four hundred pages. Yet in section after section we are treated to well-organized, concise, yet meaty presentations of figures, events, works of art, or analytical interpretation. . . . Hucker hasn't allowed political history to monopolize his story, although it does form the backbone. But he obviously has a weakness for literature, which, fortunately for the reader, he indulged. . . . Like all good history, China's Imperial Past does deepen the present, enhance our awareness of what is truly new, and entertains in the process. Not a bad bargain."—The Asia Wall Street Journal"China's Imperial Past fills a great need in the area of Chinese studies, the need for a readable and accurate introduction for both the layman and the beginner, for a book without overpowering erudition or demeaning "shallowness. The author has brilliantly accomplished this remarkable and difficult tour de force. He has produced a book which not only provides the reader with a wealth of information on all aspects of the civilization of China but which also stimulates his desire to read other, more detailed works."—Journal of Asian History"Handsome and readable. . . . Not since Latourette's The Chinese: Their History and Culture have we had such an even-handed review of Chinese history as this volume provides."—Pacific Affairs"Professor Charles O. Hucker, author of two very stimulating books on Ming history and editor of one book on Ming government and institutions, has now produced another opus magnum on China's imperial past. . . . Professor Hucker has produced a book which is not only suitable for students in the English-speaking world but demonstrates to sinologists, teachers and students alike that Chinese history in the tung-shih style can be written in this way."—Journal of Oriental Studies"The book is an impressive tour de force of skillful organization, clarity, and precision; the style is quiet, concise, and unambiguous. Hucker's coverage is strikingly comprehensive. . . . His incorporation of the major findings and issues of recent research is meticulous and well proportioned."—The Journal of Asian Studies"China's Imperial Past, by Charles O. Hucker, is the best introduction to Chinese culture from earliest times to the 19th century."—DiversionTable of ContentsIntroduction Part I. The formative age, prehistory-206 BC 1. General history 2. State and society 3. Thought 34. Literature and art Part II. The Early Empire, 206 BC-AD 960: 5. General history 6. Government 7. Society and the economy 8. Thought 9. Literature and art Part III. The Later Empire, 960-1850: 10. General history 11. Government 12. Society and the economy 13. Thought 14. Literature and art Epilogue.

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Book SynopsisThe story of the bitter political struggles within a factionalized military elite, released in the 1920's from the constraints of the informal but unified system of Imperial leadership which had characterized the military in the Meiji era.Trade Review"The 1920s is always presented as a low point of military influence in Japan, a kind of anomalous pause before the dive into total war. Humphreys seeks to bridge that gap, and in doing so, he succeeds admirably in showing that the army continued to evolve even as it receded from center stage." -- History"Amazingly, this incisive and well-written work is the first book-length account in English of the Japanese army in a crucial period before World War II. Based on an extraordinary number of Japanese sources and on interviews with participants in the events he describes, Humphreys's book will be important for scholars both of modern Japan and of military organizations in general. His perspective as a longtime U.S. army officer adds to the quality of his analysis and the depth of his scholarship." -- Richard Smethurst * University of Pittsburgh *Table of Contents1. The background to army politics 2. The army faces change 3. The changing of the guard: Ugaki comes to power 4. Reduction and modernisation: the Ugaki era 5. The growth of dissidence 6. The Manmo problem and Tayanka's positive solution 7. Jinan and Mukden: the army sets its course in China 8. Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index.

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Book SynopsisBringing local history to bear on major questions in Chinese social history and anthropology, this volume comprises a series of historical and ethnographic studies of the Pearl River Delta from late imperial times through the 1940's.Trade Review"[F]ascinating essays are integrated into a tightly woven volume by a set of common questions which are excellently discussed by the editors in their introduction and conclusion."—Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society"This is an important volume for Chinese studies and for social scientists interested in the ways in which constructions of kinship and descent can be used to legitimize claims to settlement, expropriation, and control."—American Anthropologist"In yet another fine monograph focused on the history of lineage in South China, Faure shows that administrative transformation of county government and ritual reforms leading lineages to create family temples led to the emergence of lineage-centered society... A welcome addition to other pivotal studies on lineage."—CHOICE"It is encouraging to read a work such as this one that incorporates solid contributions by scholars from different disciplines and from different parts of the world, including three researchers in mainland China."—The China Journal"The title of this book is very astute... the book is down to earth in that is stays away from rarefied generalisations about Chinese society, and instead takes us deep into the complexity and richness of the history of one region of China, the Pearl River Delta."—Pacific Affairs"One of the main aims of this book, as stated by the editors, is to integrate history and anthropology by means of a common agenda. I believe this aim has been achieved."—China Review InternationalTable of Contents1. Introduction Helen F. Siu and David Faure 2. Lineage on the sands: the case of Shawan Liu Zhiwei 3. Territorial community at the town of Lubao, Sanshui county, from the Ming Dynasty Luo Yixing 4. Ordination names in Hakka genealogies: a religious practice and its decline Chan Wing-Hoi 5. Notes on the territorial connections of the Dan Ye Xian'en 6. Notes and impressions of the Cheung Chau community James Hayes 7. Reinforcing ethnicity: the Jiao festival in Cheung Chau Choi Chi-Cheung 8. The alliance of ten: settlement and politics in the Sha Tau Kok area Patrick Hase 9. Lineage socialism and community control: Tangang Xiang in the 1920s and 1930s David Faure 10. Subverting lineage power: local bosses and territorial control in the 1940s Helen F. Siu 11. Conclusion: history and anthropology Helen F. Siu and David Faure Notes Character list Index.

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Book SynopsisThe Kamakura period, 1180-1333, is known as the era of Japan's first warrior government. As the essays in this book show, however, the period was notable for the coexistence of two centers of authority, the Bakufu military government at Kamakura and the civilian court in Kyoto.Trade Review'A benchmark in American research on Japanese medieval history ... The fact that this book focuses on the unique characteristics of the form of the state indicates how firm a grasp American medieval specialists have of Japanese medieval history.' Journal of Japanese StudiesTable of ContentsPreface Introduction Jeffrey P. Mass Part I. The Resiliency of Kyoto and Contral Institutions: 1. The Kobu polity: Court-Bakufu relations in Kamakura Japan G. Cameron Hurst III 2. The imperial court as a legal authority in the Kamakura age Cornelius J. Kiley 3. Hierarchy and economics in early medieval Todajji Joan R. Piggott 4. Suo province in the age of Kamakura Peter J. Arnesen Part II. Warrior Government under the Hojo: 5. The early Bakufu and feudalism Jeffrey P. Mass 6. The Hojo family and succession to power H. Paul Varley 7. The Hojo and consultative government Andrew Goble 8. The Zen monastery in Kamakura society Martin Collcutt 9. Social control and the significance of Akuto Lorraine F. Harrington Epilogue John W. Hall Old and new approaches to Kamakura history Takeuchi Rizo.

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Book SynopsisThis book reexamines the historical thinking of Liang Qichao (1873-1929), one of the few modern Chinese thinkers and cultural critics whose appreciation of modernity was based on first-hand experience of the world space.Table of ContentsAbbreviations Introduction: toward a geography of the discourse of modernity 1. History imagined anew Liang Qichao in 1902 2. The nationalist historian and new historiography 3. The nation and revolution: narrating the modern event 4. Modernity as political discourse: interpreting revolution 5. The spatial logic of the new culture: modernity and its completion 6. Conclusion: toward a production of anthropological space Notes Bibliography Index.

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Book SynopsisThis collection of essays is built around a major but previously unstudied theme in Japanese history - the extent to which the exaggeration of antiquity has distorted historical understanding.Trade Review"This well-produced book is a little masterpiece, wise in what it says, and graceful in how it says it."—Asian Studies ReviewTable of ContentsCONTENTS 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

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Book SynopsisTracing the evolution of state military institutions from the seventh to the twelfth centuries, this book challenges much of the received wisdom of Western scholarship on the origins and early development of warriors in Japan.Trade Review"A long overdue revision of court-warrior relationships from the seventh through twelfth centuries. . . . Friday's book has significantly altered the way Western scholars will view the history of early Japan."—Journal of Asian Studies"Friday raises issues that all teachers and scholars must take into account."—American Historical ReviewTable of ContentsCONTENTS 1 2 3 4

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Book SynopsisFocusing on the intellectual life of Shanghai under Japanese occupation, the author shows that Shanghai writers exhibited a complexity and ambiguity of moral choices that challenges the postwar perception of occupied China as a field of conflict between selfless resisters and shameless collaborators. Illus.Trade Review"Poshek Fu's fine study of the experiences of Chinese writers in Japanese-occupied Shanghai, the first of its kind, is an important and welcome contribution. . . . It is meticulously researched and convincingly argued. His discussion of the economic, political, social, and ethical quandaries of life in wartime is masterful, and he evokes vividly the minefield of private and public morality through which intellectuals somehow had to pick their way."—China Review International"The story of occupied China remains largely untold, particularly in Western scholarly literature. . . . Poshek Fu's study is a major step forward in our understanding of this complex era."—Pacific Affairs"This study will be warmly welcomed by scholars who want to know about Shanghai during the occupation, but I strongly suspect it will also be read closely by those interested in the general problem of moral choices under oppressive conditions. . . . This insightful work provides us with a framework that can be used to explain the complex (and very human) moral behavior of intellectuals in these settings."—Journal of Asian Studies"This provocative, beautifully written book should be of interest not only to China specialists but to a broad spectrum of scholars interested in questions of intellectual culture, moral choice, and the dilemmas of surviving under foreign occupation."—Canadian Journal of HistoryTable of ContentsContents 1 2 3

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Book SynopsisThis book analyzes the emergence of ethnic consciousness among Hakka-speaking people in late imperial China in the context of their migrations in search of economic opportunities.Trade Review"A fascinating story of migration, ethnic warfare, economic expansion and disintegration, technological and agricultural innovation, and political response over the course of over 1,000 years of Chinese history. . . . This is the kind of work that makes one appreciate how truly illuminating a work of painstaking scholarship can be. Not only should this work be required reading for anyone in the China field, but, in addition, it provides a model for anyone interested in the historical emergence of ethnic identities in other parts of the world as well. " —American Anthropologist"Overall, this is an excellent book... a very important reminder to specialists on ethnicity in China that it is not only state-recognized minority nationalities who are worthy of research."— Asian Ethnicity

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Book SynopsisThis pioneering collection of 15 essays argues that Japan's medieval age began in the 14th century rather than the 12th, and marks the beginning of a fundamentally new debate about how Japan's lengthy classical period finally ended.Trade Review"A good selection of the latest scholarship by European, North American, and Japanese researchers. . . . An appealing aspect of the work is its multidisciplinary scope: essays on political history dominate, but the inclusion of several on religion, women, peasants, and literature add considerably to our understanding of the fouteenth century." -- Monumenta Nipponica"The work is a valuable tool for the speacialist, for it provides information about a period woefully under-represented by English works. . . . Origins is to be commended for presenting a reevaluation of the relationship between the Kamakura and Muromachi periods, a process that in-and-of itself aids in understanding the complexity that was fourteenth centufy Japan." -- Canadian Journal of History"Any specialist in Japanese history or culture should read this book. . . . All of the essays deserve serious attention." -- Journal of Japanese Studies"Together, the essays provide a rich and varied perspective on the fourteenth century." -- ChoiceTable of ContentsPart I: 1. Of hierarchy and authority at the end of Kamakura Jeffrey P. Mass; 2. Largesse and the limits of loyalty in the fourteenth century Thomas Conlan; 3. The Kikuchi and their enemies in the 1330s Seno Seiichiro; 4. Bakufu and Shugo under the early Ashikaga Thomas Nelson; 5. Peasants, elites and villages in the fourteenth century Kristina Kade Troost; Part II: 6. Visions of an emperor Andrew Goble; 7. Re-envisioning women in the post-Kamakura age Hitomi Tonomura; 8. Warrior control over the imperial anthology Robert N. Huey; 9. Cultural life of the warrior elite in the fourteenth century H. Paul Varley; 10. The warrior as ideal for a new age G. Cameron Hurst III; Part III: 11. Enraykuji - an old power in a new era Mikael Adolphson; 12. Muso Soseki Martin Collcutt; 13. Kokan Shiren and the sectarian uses of history Carl Bielefeldt; Part IV: 14. Ashikaga Takauji and the fourteenth-century dynastic schism in early Tokugawa thought I. J. McMullen; 15. The fourteenth century in twentieth-century perspective Oyama Kyohei; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

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Book SynopsisThis book is the story of the lives and work of the prominent intellectuals who taught or studied at Lianda University under extraordinary wartime conditions.Table of ContentsPreface Introduction Part I. Patriot's Pilgrimage: 1. From Beiping to Changsha 2. Lianda's long march 3. The charms of Mengzi Part II. Interactions: 4. Lianda and the Yunnanese 5. Chongqing and Kunming 6. The Lianda ethos Part III. A Pride of Professors: 7. The College of Arts 8. The College of Social Sciences 9. War and scholarship 10. The College of Natural Sciences 11. The College of Engineering 12. The teachers' college 13. Years of hope: 1938-1941 14. Years of endurance 1941-1943 15. Years of trial: 1943-1945 16. Fulfilling the mandate: 1945-1946 Conclusion Appendices Notes Bibliography Index.

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Book SynopsisThis ambitious work traces a social history of semicolonialism in late-19th and early-20th-century China. It takes as its central concern the intertwining of two antagonistic forces: elite constructions of modernity shaped globally and an alternative line of peasant resistance and development.Trade Review"Walker successfully integrates Japanese, pre and post-Cultural Revolution Chinese, and Western historiography as well as an impressive body of theoretical work, and her book will become required reading for specialists in the field." -- Canadian Journal of HistoryTable of ContentsIntroduction: modernity, the semicolonial process and alternative histories Part I. Signposts: The Ming-Qing Transition and Beyond: 1. Agrarian class relations and peasant history in the Southern Yangzi delta during the Ming 2. The view from the periphery: Tongzhou and the Northern delta 3. Historical trends during the Qing Part II. The Semicolonial Process: 4. Shanghai, cotton cloth and the shaping of Nantong's modern merchant elite 5. Remaking local power: Zhang Jian's self-reliant path 6. Extending the sway of commercial capital 7. The politics of the peasant and modernist paths in the late Qing-early Republican years 8. Constituting 'semicolonial capitalisms': modern landlordism, commercial farming, and rural labor 9. Subproletarianization in the industrial districts Conclusion: semicolonialism and the peasant path Notes References Character list Index.

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Book SynopsisAs analysis of the revenue available to Qing garrisons in Xinjiang reveals, imperial control over the region in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries depended upon sizeable yearly subsidies from China. In an effort to satisfy criticism of their expansion into Xinjiang and make the territory pay for itself, the Qing court permitted local authorities great latitude in fiscal matters and encouraged the presence of Han and Chinese Muslim merchants. At the same time, the court recognized the potential for unrest posed by Chinese mercantile penetration of this Muslim, Turkic-speaking area. They consequently attempted, through administrative and legal means, to defend the native Uyghur population against economic depredation. This ethnic policy reflected a conception of the realm that was not Sinocentric, but rather placed the Uyghur on a par with Han Chinese.Both this ethnic policy and Xinjiang's place in the realm shifted following a series of invasions from western Turkestan stTrade Review-Peter C. Perdue, -Massachusetts Institute of Technology,Table of ContentsPreface Note on transliteration Abbreviations Introduction 1. Landmarks 2. Financing new dominion 3. Official commerce and commercial taxation in the Far West 4. 'Gathering Like Clouds': Chinese mercantile penetration of Xinjiang 5. The merchants and articles of trade 6. Qing ethnic policy and Chinese merchants Conclusion: toward the domestication of Empire Epilogue: the Xianfeng fiscal crisis: statecraft thinkers and Qing Xinjiang: the question of Qing imperialism Character list Notes Bibliography Index.

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Book SynopsisThis book shows how, though Suzhou entered the Ming defeated and suspect, interactions between the imperial state and local elites gave rise to a network of markets, centered on Suzhou, that fostered high-quality local specialization.Trade Review"...in contributing to the growing body of local history in the study of premodern China, Marmé has made an important and valuable contribution....this is significant book that deserves attention." -- Journal of Asian Studies"There is something for everybody in this provocative and challenging book... Marmé's Ming-focused Suzhou presents a history of contingency and paradox. In so doing, it brings into view a previously obscured and woefully misunderstood century and a half of urban change." -- China Review International"...anyone seriously interested in the history of late imperial China or the comparative global analysis of urban civilization will welcome this nuanced, wide-ranging study." -- ChoiceTable of ContentsTable of Contents for Suzhou Acknowledgments Conventions Introduction 1. Heaven in a Very Small Space: Suzhou and Its Hinterland in the Ming 2. "A Great Deal of Extravagance and a Modicum of Frugality": Suzhou to 1367 3. A Conquered Province: Suzhou under Hongwu 4. Co-option and Near Collapse--Suzhou, 1398-1430 5. Reform, 1430-1484: Suzhou from Zhou Chen to Wang Shu 6. "Like Another Place": Economy and Society in Fifteenth-Century Suzhou 7. "Those Occupying Places above the Common People": Suzhou's elite and the Rise of Wu School Culture 8. "Neglecting the Roots, Pursuing the Branches": Suzhou, 1506-1550 Epilogue: "Actually Full of Want and Distress"? Suzhou from the Wokou Crisis to the Fall of the Ming Conclusion Appendix A: Population Appendix B: Examination Graduates Abbreviations Notes Bibliography Glossary Index

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Book SynopsisSong in an Age of Discord is a companion volume to the author''s translation of The Journal of Socho, the travel diary and poetic memoir of Saiokuken Socho (1448-1532), the preeminent linked-verse (renga) poet of his generation. The Journalwhich records several journeys that Socho made between Kyoto and Suruga Province during the tumultuous Age of the Country at Waris unparalleled in the literature of the period for its range of commentary and freshness of detail, and for its impressive array of literary genres, including more than 600 poems. The present volume opens with an overview of the author''s life and times, and explores the relationships between politics, patronage, and the creative process in late medieval Japan. Raised in the service of a feudal lord in Suruga Province, Socho subsequently became the devoted student of the renga master Sogi and the iconoclastic Zen monk Ikkyu, a variety of influences clearly visible in his journal.Trade Review"Professor H. Mack Horton's magisterial study of Saiokuken Socho adds a new perspective to the extensive body of renga scholarship in English published over the past twenty-odd years." -- Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies"Ambitious and provocative." -- Journal of Japanese Studies"...a fine entry into the cultural world of the elite classes of warring states in Japan." -- Journal of Asian History"H. Mack Horton has succeeded admirably in bringing to life not only the rich humanity of Socho, his poetry, and his text, but also the literary world in which he was active . . . .[Song in an Age of Discord contains] rich, multifaceted contextualizations of Socho and his life in a time of turmoil and transition." -- Monumenta Nipponica

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Book SynopsisThis work analyzes the link between the awakening of China as a historical narrative and the awakening of the Chinese people as a political technique for building a sovereign and independent state. In sum, it asks what we mean when we say that China woke up in the last century.Trade Review"Based on broad, accurate scholarship, this distinguished work provides a searching synthesis of a number of important themes in early twentieth-century Chinese history."—Andrew J. Nathan, Columbia University"A vivid account of how Chinese revolutionaries and intellectuals awakened China during the Republican Revolution. . . . Initially, Fitzgerald offers an interesting and detailed analysis of the process of awakening China . . . illustrated through contemporary developments in the fields of art and architecture, museums and medicine, fiction and essays, journalism and propaganda, political institutions, and mass organization. . . . Second, an important feature of Fitzgerald's book is that the author develops a comparison between the Communists and the Nationalists, between Sun and Mao in their efforts to awaken China. . . . Third, not only does this book add to an understanding of the politics of mass awakening, it also contributes to a broader understanding of Chinese art history, ethics, and ethnography during the first three decades of this century."—Journal of Asian Studies"This is a brilliant book. Anyone trying to grapple with the rise of China and the struggle for political liberalization there simply must read it."—QuadrantTable of ContentsContents 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

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Book SynopsisThis is the first complete English translation of Lushi chunqiu, compiled in 239 B.C. An exceptionally rich and comprehensive compendium, The Annals recounts in engaging, straightforward, and readable prose the great variety of beliefs and customs of the time in an attempt to encompass the world's knowledge in one encyclopedia.Trade Review"This book gives us the first complete English translation of the Lushi chunqiu. . . . Knoblock and Riegel aim for a book "in convenient form that will serve the needs of the general reader while providing the scholar with the information necessary to understand the decisions we have made in translating the text." They have succeeded admirably. . . . Recommended for all collections on early China."—Religious Studies Review"John Knoblock and Jeffrey Riegel have provided us with a marvelous work in this first rate annotated translation of the complete extant text, as well as extensive notes and appendices. . . . In the past, we have found ourselves in debt to the late John Knoblock for his Xunzi. Now we are further indebted to him and Jefrey Riegel for this splendid scholarly work."—American Jounal of Chinese StudiesTable of ContentsConventions and abbreviations Introduction Part I. The Almanaca, Books 1-12: Part II. The Examinations, Books 13-20: Part III. The Discourses, Books 21-26: Appendixes Reference matter.

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Book SynopsisThis book attempts to expand the grounds and methodology of studying Japanese art history by focusing on the conditions, procedures, events, and social interplay that characterized the production of paintings in late-15th-century Japan. Though the book's ultimate concerns are art historical, its analysis also draws from the insights of sociology and social history.Trade Review"This book is a valuable additon to recent scholarship on Japanese art. . . . A book that markedly advances the study of premodern Japanese art." -- Ars Orientalis"A timely and pioneering effort to expand Japanese art historians' conventional analysis of painting through the application of a socio-historical approach." -- Pacific Affairs"A valuable reference material for both specialists and non-specialists. . . . the author's innovative approach of looking at artistic practices from a socio-historical perspective indicates the importance regarding the interrelationship of texts and images for the discipline of art history, not only in terms of Japan but also cross-culturally." -- Pacific AffairsTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. Documenting practices 2. Circumstances of painting 3. Basic operations and agency 4. Painting without supervision and with it 5. Social practices 6. Portraiture Conclusion Appendices Notes Bibliography Index.

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Book SynopsisTo what extent do newly available case records bear out our conventional assumptions about the Qing legal system? Is it true, for example, that Qing courts rarely handled civil lawsuitsthose concerned with disputes over land, debt, marriage, and inheritanceas official Qing representations led us to believe? Is it true that decent people did not use the courts? And is it true that magistrates generally relied more on moral predilections than on codified law in dealing with cases? Based in large part on records of 628 civil dispute cases from three counties from the 1760's to the 1900's, this book reexamines those widely accepted Qing representations in the light of actual practice.The Qing state would have had us believe that civil disputes were so minor or trivial that they were left largely to local residents themselves to resolve. However, case records show that such disputes actually made up a major part of the caseloads of local courts. The Qing state held that lawsuits wTrade Review"This is a book that we have long been waiting for, because it tackles a previously neglected aspect of Chinese law, the civil law." -- American Historical ReviewTable of Contents1. Introduction 2. Defining categories: disputes and lawsuits in North China villages before the communist revolution 3. Informal justice: mediation in North China villages before the communist revolution 4. Formal justice: codified law and magisterial adjudication in the Qing 5. Between informal mediation and formal adjudication: the third realm of Qing justice 6. Two patterns in the Qing civil justice system 7. Extent, cost and strategies of litigation 8. From the perspective of magistrate handbooks 9. Max Weber and the Qing legal and political system Appendixes References Index.

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Book SynopsisThe Journal of Socho is one of the most individual self-portraits in the literary history of medieval Japan. Its author, Saiokuken Socho (1448-1532)the preeminent linked-verse (renga) poet of his timewas an eyewitness to Japan''s violent transition from the medieval to the early modern age. Written between 1522 and 1527, during the Age of the Country at War (Sengoku jidai), his journal provides a vivid portrayal of cultural life in the capital and in the provinces, together with descriptions of battles and great warrior families, the dangers of travel through war-torn countryside, and the plight of the poor.The journal records four of Socho''s journeys between Kyoto and Suruga Province, where he served as the poet laureate of the Imagawa house, as well as several shorter excursions and periods of rest at various hermitages. The diverse upbringing of its authora companion of nobles and warlords, a student of the orthodox poetic neoclassicism of the rengTrade Review"With his fine translation of Socho's journal, Horton provides another valuable document to aid in our understanding of the complexities of medieval Japanese discourse." -- Journal of Japanese Studies"In sum, these two [The Journal of Socho and Song in an Age of Discord: 'The Journal of Socho' and Poetic Life in Late Medieval Japan] beautifully produced volumes provide a fine entry into the cultural world of the elite classes of warring states in Japan." -- Journal of Asian HistoryTable of ContentsList of Abbreviations Eras and Reigns During Soch6's Lifetime (1448-I532) A Note to the Translation Book One Second Year of Daiei (1522) Third Year of Daiei (1523) Fourth Year of Daiei (1524) Fifth Year of Daiei (1525) Sixth Year of Daiei (1526) Book Two Sixth Year of Daiei (1526) Seventh Year of Daiei (1527) Appendixes A: The Imagawa House B: The Historical Context of the "Asahina Battle Chronicle" C: Chronology of The Journal of Socho Notes Bibliography Index of First Lines General Index

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Book SynopsisIn 1971, Lin Biao, Mao Zedong's closest comrade-in-arms and chosen successor, was killed in a mysterious plane crash in Mongolia. This book challenges the official explanation that Lin was fleeing to the Soviet Union after an unsuccessful coup attempt.Trade Review"Jin Qiu presents a fascinating and detailed investigation of one of the stranger twists in modern Chinese political history, and as such it is a significant contribution to scholarship on the period." -- American Journal of Chinese Studies"In describing the political culture that produced Lin Biao, Jin Qiu accomplishes what very few Westerners could ever hope to: the construction of a nuanced and reasonably full-orbed cultural discussion of the texture and tenor of extra-institutional machinations, interpersonal relationships, family and inter-family dynamics, and even jealousies and superstitions that figured into decision-making and policy formulation." -- Canadian Journal of History"Highly recommended for all libraries." -- Library JournalTable of ContentsContents Perry Elizabeth J. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

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Book SynopsisThis is a reconstruction of the massacre in Tiananmen Square on June 3-4, 1989, as well as of the crucial events in Beijing during the previous weeks that largely precipitated the massacre. The book focuses on the army which had always prided itself on its close ties to the civilian population.Trade Review"The author skillfully weaves eyewitness accounts into a smoothly flowing narrative. Two maps of Beijing assist the reader in following the actions described, and there is a seful chronology of events. The work should interest both generalists and specialists, and spans the disciplines of history, political science, and sociology." -- The China Quarterly"The author has done a magnificent job of reconstructing the military mobilization in Beijing and the role of the People's Liberation Army in the bloody suppression of the Chinese people's movement. . . . A moving book that vividly displays the extraordinary bravery of the residents of Beijing." -- Pacific Affairs"It took three and a half years for Brook to collect the pieces of this tragic puzzle. The result: a unique and vigorous study that does not try to find out 'who was wrong and who was right,' but concentrates on simple facts." -- Liberation (Paris)Table of Contents1. Introduction; 2. Changing fate (April 15 - May 19); 3. No place left unguarded (May 19 - 23); 4, Waiting for the moon May 24 - June 3); 5. Spilling blood (June 3-4); 6. Counting bodies (June 4); 7. Consequences (June 4-9); 8. Closing the century; Afterword; Acknowledgements; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

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Book SynopsisIn the 1930s and 1940s, the prevalent American view of China was that of a friendly, democratic, and increasingly Christian state, in many ways akin to the United States. This book shows how the notion of the Chinese as aspiring Americans helped shape American opinion and policies toward Asia.Trade Review"Jesperson demonstrates admirably why we must recognise the images that once controlled the American way of thinking about China, why and how these were constructed, and why they have failed to disappear." -- American Historical Review"Thoroughly researched and lucidly written, this book is a superb addition to the all-too-meager literature." -- Journal of American HistoryTable of ContentsContents 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

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Book SynopsisFor commoners in the Qing dynasty, the most salient agents of the imperial state were not the emperor''s appointed officials but rather the clerks and runners of the county yamen, the lowest level of functionaries in the Qing state''s administrative hierarchy. Yet until now we have known very little about these critically important persons beyond the caricatured portrayals of corruption and venality left by Qing high officials and elites.Drawing from the rich archival records of Ba county, Sichuan, the author challenges the simplicity of these portrayals by taking us inside the county yamen to provide the first detailed look at local administrative practice from the perspective of those who actually carried it out. Who were the county clerks and runners? How were they recruited, organized, disciplined, and rewarded? What was the economic basis for a career in the yamen? How did clerks and runners view themselves as well as legitimize their role in Qing goTrade Review“...the book is a valuable contribution to the study of a sophisticated bureaucracy in a non-Western, nonmodern setting.”—Robin D.S. Yates, McGill UniversityTable of ContentsPreface; Abbreviations and conventions; 1. Illicit bureaucrats; 2. Clerks; 3. Families, friends, and factions; 4. Runners; 5. Illicit allies and the magistrate's men; 6. The economics of justice; 7. The legitimacy of the indispensable; Appendixes; Notes; Character list; Index.

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Book SynopsisRecent release of archival material in China and Taiwan has made possible this book, the first comprehensive treatment of Sino-Japanese collaboration, at the level of both state and of society.Trade Review" . . . [Scholars] interested in the Japanese occupation of China and Chinese collaboration will find much of value in the book."—The International History Review"The title of this book is enough to arouse interest since it deals with a particularly sensitive phenomenon in modern Chinese history: collaboration with the Japanese during the occupation. It is therefore very much to the credit of the two editors, David Barrett and Larry Shyu, to have brought together the papers presented on this subject during a conference held in Vancouver in December 1995, and devoted to the Sino-Japanese war. . . . This group publication contains a wealth of information useful to our knowledge and understanding of the period."—China Perspectives"By offering fresh perspectives on China's wartime collaborationism, the articles in this valuable anthology contribute significantly to our better understanding of the complexity of not only Chinese collaborationism but also nationalism.""This is an extremely important volume of essays which provides a vital new perspective on our understanding of the 1937-1945 Sino-Japanese war."—Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African StudiesTable of ContentsPreface David P. Barrett and Larry N. Shyu; Note on romanization; Maps; Introduction: occupied China and the limits of accommodation David P. Barrett; Part I. Negotiations With Japan: Official, Unofficial, and Covert: 1. Wang Jingwei and the policy origins of the 'peace movement', 1932-1937 Wang Ke-wen; 2. Regional office and the national interest: song zheyuan in North China, 1933-1937 Marjorie Dryburgh; 3. Nationalist China's negotiating position during the stalemate, 1938-1945 Huang Meizhen and Yang Hanqing; Part II. Client Regimes: Genesis, Character and Justification: 4. The creation of the reformed government in central China, 1938 Timothy Brook; 5. The Wang Jingwei regime, 1940-1945: communities and disjunctures with nationalist China David P. Barrett; 6. Survival as justification for collaboration, 1937-1945 Lo Jiu-jung; Part III. Elite Collaboration: Opportunism, Obstacles and Ambiguities: 7. Japan's new order and the Shanghai capitalists: conflict and collaboration, 1937-1945 Parks M. Coble; 8. Patterns and dynamics of elite collaboration in occupied shaoxing country R. Keith Schoppa; 9. Resistance in collaboration: Chinese cinema in occupied Shanghai, 1941-1945 Poshek Fu; Part IV. The Hinterland: Collaboration, Resistance and Anarchy: 10. The war within a war: a case study of a county on the North China Plain Peter J. Seybolt; 11. Communist sources for localizing the study of the Sino-Japanese War Odoric Y. K. Wou; Notes; Index.

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Book SynopsisA social, legal, and intellectual history of divorce in Japan over the last four centuries, during much of which Japan had one of the highest divorce rates in the world.Trade Review"...This book is a must-read for social scientists with research interests in the areas of gender, marriage and the family, and demography." -- Canadian Journal of Sociology Online"In providing a detailed analysis of the gender dynamics of marriage, moreover, [Fuess] illuminates the shifting position of women within the family and marriage, pertinent to many discussions of contemporary Japanese society." -- Pacific Affairs"[This book] is a rich resource that will provide the starting point for much new research and will be widely cited by anyone writing on divorce and marriage in Japan." -- Journal of Japanese Studies"In Divorce in Japan: Family, Gender, and the State, 1600-2000, Harald Fuess presents a careful and very accessible description of the social and political context of Japan's historically very high rates of divorce, their subsequent decline to very low levels, and their recent return to levels on par with most other industrialized societies. This book is a welcome addition to the very limited English-language literature on divorce in Japan....the central themes in this historical overview of divorce in Japan should be of broad interest to all sociologists." -- American Journal of Sociology"This fine interdisciplinary treatment of divorce should be useful to those in family studies, comparative social sciences, and institutional and legal historians, in addition to the obvious contribution it makes to Japanese area studies, for undergraduate and graduate courses alike." -- Contemporary Sociology"Divorce in Japan is an invaluable contribution to scholarship on Japan, not just for what it reveals about divorce, marriage, and family, but for the comprehensive use of materials and its theoretical underpinnings. Fuess is to be commended for his meticulous methods of interpretation and his expression of compelling findings in a clear, unequivocal prose style." -- Canadian Journal of HistoryTable of ContentsContents Acknowledgments xiii Note on Japanese Names xv 1. The Forgotten History of Japanese Divorce 1 When Japan Led the World in Divorce, 1--Competing Interpretations of Traditional High Divorce Rates, 6--A New History of Japanese Divorce, 9--Changing Definitions of Marriage and Divorce, 11--Sources, 15 2. For the Sake of the House: Edo-Period Patterns, Perceptions, and Precedents 18 Divorce Across Status and Domain Boundaries, 21--"No- Fault" Divorce in Popular Plays, 25--Magistrates in Support of Household Authority, 29--Merciful Buddhist Temples: An Alternative Venue for Divorce Negotiations, 39--Household Status Versus Sex, 44 3. Testing a Spouse: The Trial Marriage System 47 Meiji Marriage Ambiguities, 48--The Frequency of Divorce in the Meiji Era, 57--Multiple Remarriage Opportunities, 67-- The Trial Marriage System and Household Survival, 72 4. Unsuitable to the Family Tradition? Popular Divorce Customs in the 1870s 75 Obtaining a Customary Consent Divorce, 76--The Terms of Customary Consent Divorce, 82--Life After Divorce, 96-- Evidence of Female Divorce Initiatives, 96--Early Modern Divorce Revisited, 98 5. Between French Law and Japanese Customs: Codifying Divorce in Meiji Japan 100 Intellectual Interpretations of Divorce in the 1870s and the 1880s, 102--The Napoleonic Code and the Early Codification Process, 1873-1887, 105--The Backlash Against "French" Divorce, 1887-1892, 109--Reaffirming the Dual Divorce System, 1892- 1898, 110--The Civil Code of 1898: Divorce, Family, and Gender, 114 6. When Marriage Was on the Rise: Declining Divorce Rates, 1898-1940 119 Legislation and the Precipitous Drop in Divorce, 1897-1899, 120--The Gradual Decline, 1900-1940, 128 7. Forward to the Past: A Historical Perspective on Japanese Divorce After World War II 144 Legislative Reform During the American Occupation, 145-- The 1960s Revolution in Japanese Divorce Behavior, 152--The Return of the Divorcing Society in the 1990s, , 161 Appendix 169 Notes 175 Select Bibliography 211 Index 223 Library of Congress Subject Headings for this publication: Divorce Japan History, Domestic relations Japan

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Book SynopsisThis pioneering collection of 15 essays argues that Japan's medieval age began in the 14th century rather than the 12th, and marks the beginning of a fundamentally new debate about how Japan's lengthy classical period finally ended.Trade Review"A good selection of the latest scholarship by European, North American, and Japanese researchers. . . . An appealing aspect of the work is its multidisciplinary scope: essays on political history dominate, but the inclusion of several on religion, women, peasants, and literature add considerably to our understanding of the fouteenth century." -- Monumenta Nipponica"The work is a valuable tool for the speacialist, for it provides information about a period woefully under-represented by English works. . . . Origins is to be commended for presenting a reevaluation of the relationship between the Kamakura and Muromachi periods, a process that in-and-of itself aids in understanding the complexity that was fourteenth centufy Japan." -- Canadian Journal of History"Any specialist in Japanese history or culture should read this book. . . . All of the essays deserve serious attention." -- Journal of Japanese Studies"Together, the essays provide a rich and varied perspective on the fourteenth century." -- ChoiceTable of ContentsPart I: 1. Of hierarchy and authority at the end of Kamakura Jeffrey P. Mass; 2. Largesse and the limits of loyalty in the fourteenth century Thomas Conlan; 3. The Kikuchi and their enemies in the 1330s Seno Seiichiro; 4. Bakufu and Shugo under the early Ashikaga Thomas Nelson; 5. Peasants, elites and villages in the fourteenth century Kristina Kade Troost; Part II: 6. Visions of an emperor Andrew Goble; 7. Re-envisioning women in the post-Kamakura age Hitomi Tonomura; 8. Warrior control over the imperial anthology Robert N. Huey; 9. Cultural life of the warrior elite in the fourteenth century H. Paul Varley; 10. The warrior as ideal for a new age G. Cameron Hurst III; Part III: 11. Enraykuji - an old power in a new era Mikael Adolphson; 12. Muso Soseki Martin Collcutt; 13. Kokan Shiren and the sectarian uses of history Carl Bielefeldt; Part IV: 14. Ashikaga Takauji and the fourteenth-century dynastic schism in early Tokugawa thought I. J. McMullen; 15. The fourteenth century in twentieth-century perspective Oyama Kyohei; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

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Book SynopsisThis history of the Chinese Civil War attempts to answer two questions: Why was the war fought? And What were the immediate and lasting results of the Communists' victory? It also shows how campaigns were mounted against changes in politics, society and culture.Trade Review"Odd Arne Westad has written a key work on the civil-war period as well as an essential bibliographic starting point for further research." -- The China Journal"This path-breaking, perceptive work merits wide circulation and systematic analysis." -- Canadian Journal of History"This book is of fundamental importance to understanding twentieth-century Chinese history, comparative revolution, and early Cold War history. Weaving together strands of military, social, political, and international history, Westad provides by far the best empirically grounded, multi-archival, and comprehensive nationwide analysis of how the Chinese Communist Party achieved victory in the Chinese Civil War of 1946-1950." -- Journal of Cold War Studies"Offers meticulous research, drawing on classic reports, recent memoirs, and scholarship in Chinese, Russian, and English based on archival research. . . . More important, [Westad] weaves a grand, sweeping epic of social, cultural, and economic conflict that includes but goes beyond political and military battles. . . . Highly recommended for academic libraries and collections in Chinese history." -- Library Journal"Decisive Encounters is a highly readable, comprehensive, and reliable account of a war whose importance we all know but which nonetheless has received little attention." -- PACIFIC AFFAIRS"This remarkable survey of a crucial period of Chinese history deserves to be widely read." -- Choice

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Book SynopsisUniversal ideas of freedom are to be found throughout the world's diverse intellectual and political traditions, spread by the global trade in ideas which has grown exponentially during the past 200 years. In Africa and Asia, the conceptualization of freedom for individuals and societies has been heavily influenced by the translation of specific European or American ideas of freedom into new political and social contexts. This volume represents a pioneering preliminary assessment of some of the causes and consequences of this process. Africa and Asia have too often been portrayed in Western accounts as having no historical purchase on ideas of freedom, but the chapters in this volume reveal that these societies have long had their own ideas about the proper degree of individual autonomy relative to the authority exercised by the state and other institutions. The topics covered here are ideas of freedom in Africa from the slave trade era through colonialism to the natioTrade Review"Extensive documentation distinguishes every chapter. An excellent, indeed unique, monograph, The Idea of Freedom in Asia and Africa should appeal to advanced students and all lovers of freedom." -- History: Reviews of New Books"...The Idea of Freedom in Asia and Africa is a very useful, well-written, and well-edited compilation, which is worth reading for anyone interested in the discourse on freedom in the non-Western world." -- Jennifer Lofkrantz * York University *Table of ContentsContributors xv Introduction I ROBERT H. TAYLOR I. Itineraries of Ideas of Freedom in Africa: Precolonial to Postcolonial 9 CRAWFORD YOUNG 2. African States and the Search for Freedom 40 WILLIAM J. FOLTZ 3. Developmentalism, Revolution, and Freedom in the Arab East: The Cases of Egypt, Syria, and Iraq 62 JAMES L. GELVIN 4. Ideas of Freedom in Modem India 97 SUDIPTA KAVIRAJ 5. Freedom in Burma and Thailand: Inside or Outside the State? I43 ROBERT H. TAYLOR 6. Reverberations of Freedom in the Philippines and Vietnam 182 BENEDICT J. TRIA KERKVLIET 7. Japan: State, Society, and Collective Goods versus the Individual 214 SHELDON GARON 8. Redefinitions of Freedom in China 248 ANDREW J. NATHAN Notes 275 Index 317

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