Cover of The Search For Modern China

The Search For Modern China

In this widely acclaimed history of modern China, Jonathan Spence achieves a fine blend of narrative richness and efficiency. Praised as "a miracle of readability and scholarly authority," (Jonathan Mirsky) The Search for Modern Chinaoffers a matchless introduction to China's history.

Audience
adult
Length
epic · 912 pages

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Liked The Search For Modern China? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked The Search For Modern China. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. Mao's Last Revolution Shares China, history, chinese history
  2. Restless Empire: China and the World Since 1750 Shares China, history, nonfiction
  3. The Cambridge Illustrated History of China Shares China, history, nonfiction
  4. Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom: China, the West, and the Epic Story of the Taiping Civil War Shares China, history, nonfiction

“People who read The Search For Modern China tend to reach for these next.”

  1. China: A New History
  2. 1587: A Year of No Significance: The Ming Dynasty in Decline
  3. Red Star over China: The Classic Account of the Birth of Chinese Communism
  4. Tombstone: The Great Chinese Famine, 1958-1962

“If you want more of the same (history), start with these.”

  1. The Cultural Revolution: A People's History, 1962-1976
  2. The First Emperor: Selections from the Historical Records
  3. The Open Empire: A History of China Through 1600
  4. The Golden Peaches of Samarkand: A Study of T'ang Exotics

“If it was the China that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. The Penguin History of Modern China: The Fall and Rise of a Great Power, 1850-2008
  2. China's Last Empire: The Great Qing
  3. The Scramble for China: Foreign Devils in the Qing Empire, 1832-1914
  4. Sons of the Yellow Emperor: A History of the Chinese Diaspora

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

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