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Jonathan D. Spence (1936–2021)

Author of The Search for Modern China

24+ Works 6,349 Members 80 Reviews 15 Favorited

About the Author

Jonathan D. Spence was born in Surrey, England on August 11, 1936. He received a B.A. in history from Clare College, Cambridge University and a M.A. and Ph.D. from Yale University. He was Sterling Professor of History at Yale University from 1993 to 2008. As a historian specializing in Chinese show more history, he wrote several books including The Search for Modern China, The Death of Woman Wang, and The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci. The Gate of Heavenly Peace won the Los Angeles Times Book Award and the Henry D. Vursell Memorial Award of the American Academy-Institute of Arts and Letters. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Works by Jonathan D. Spence

The Search for Modern China (1990) 1,276 copies
The Death of Woman Wang (1978) 486 copies
Mao Zedong: A Penguin Life (1999) 480 copies
Treason by the Book (2001) 416 copies
Emperor of China: Self-Portrait of K'ang-Hsi (1974) — Author — 375 copies
The Question of Hu (1988) 314 copies

Associated Works

Journey into China (1982) 536 copies
A History of Chinese Civilization (1982) — Introduction, some editions — 506 copies
Fortress Besieged (1947) — Foreword, some editions — 259 copies
Granta 32: History (1990) — Contributor — 151 copies
Inside China (2007) 38 copies

Tagged

17th century (41) 18th century (38) 19th century (44) 20th century (46) Asia (123) Asian History (78) biography (288) Catholicism (20) China (1,324) China History (88) Chinese (39) Chinese history (351) Christianity (17) communism (45) culture (25) East Asia (32) Europe (19) fiction (41) history (1,256) Imperial China (38) Jesuits (40) Jonathan Spence (20) Mao (26) Matteo Ricci (19) memory (45) Ming Dynasty (30) Modern China (17) non-fiction (343) own (22) photography (18) politics (45) Qing (36) Qing Dynasty (59) read (29) religion (41) revolution (21) Taiping Rebellion (38) to-read (173) unread (26) world history (20)

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Reviews

Good book. I found it very interesting to read about someone who considered themself the brother of Jesus yet acted like the total opposite.
 
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CMDoherty | 8 other reviews | Oct 3, 2023 |
This book shows how China's efforts to respond to her encounter with the imperial industrial powers from the 1840s to the 1970s were an unmitigated disaster. The Qing state made efforts to modernise the economy and military, sending students abroad, recruiting Western armaments experts, building railways, and so on. But the circumstances were impossible. Rapacious predations by foreign forces and devastating internal civil wars denied China time and space to carry out the needed development. In one pathetic incident, a new Chinese fleet was entirely and ignominiously sunk by French ships within minutes. Resistance to westernisation from inside the regime, which as a foreign conquest state was anxious about its own legitimacy, made a stark contrast with the unified determination of Japan's Meiji state-led industrialisation and military reforms. Japan went on to abuse China for decades herself. In a further disastrous outcome, China was taken over by a Stalinist psychopath whose catastrophic policies turned the mid-20th century into a waking nightmare, a man who even today is held in official honour by a regime too frightened by its own failures to permit honest discussion of the past. Only after Mao's death has China combined an era of peace with competent leadership and successful state-guided industrialisation policies. But her traumatic encounter with the imperial powers between the Opium Wars and the Japanese occupation still defines her approach to the world today: a determination to overcome the "Century of Humiliation" and maximise her power to address the world on her own terms.

Some essential books on modern and contemporary China:

[b:Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China|1848|Wild Swans Three Daughters of China|Jung Chang|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1440643710s/1848.jpg|2969000]

[b:Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China|18490568|Age of Ambition Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China|Evan Osnos|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1418113377s/18490568.jpg|26174286]

[b:The Party: The Secret World of China's Communist Rulers|7822182|The Party The Secret World of China's Communist Rulers|Richard McGregor|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348918012s/7822182.jpg|10863112]
… (more)
 
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fji65hj7 | 18 other reviews | May 14, 2023 |
Meh. Only the last chapter is about Woman Wang. Disappointing read about people living in a county in Northern China. Really crappy era for women.
 
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burritapal | 4 other reviews | Oct 23, 2022 |
Good overview of recent Chinese history. Often sympathetic to Mao.
 
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apende | 18 other reviews | Jul 12, 2022 |

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Statistics

Works
24
Also by
5
Members
6,349
Popularity
#3,875
Rating
3.8
Reviews
80
ISBNs
153
Languages
12
Favorited
15

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