Description
Book SynopsisConnects the rise of Chinese nationalism to the growth of a Chinese working class. This title shows how workers' refusal to be treated "like cattle and horses" (a line from an anonymous worker's poem on poor working conditions) derived from a fresh but powerfully felt sense of dignity.
Trade Review“
Like Cattle and Horses stands out as an important and original contribution to debates within Chinese studies about labor and nationalism and a significant addition to the comparative literature on class identities and their political implications.”—Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Indiana University
“Specialists and general readers alike will delight in the stories that Smith tells. This perceptive and original book abounds in good ideas and gems of scholarship and draws on a formidable range of theories. Few historians of China could match this range of expertise.”—Gregor Benton, University of Wales, Cardiff
Table of ContentsContents: Traditional social networks and identities Nationalist and labor protest at the end of the Qing dynasty The 1911 revolution in Shanghai Nationalist and labor protest, 1913-19 The May Fourth Movement of 1919 The discourse of class The Communists attempt to organize labor. 1920-23 Workers and the nation: Left versus Right, 1923-25 The May Thirtieth Movement, 1925 National and class identities, 1925-27 The surge in labor organization, 1927 Climax of the National Revolution, March-April 1927
