The Study Of Modern China

Jean-Louis Rocca's admirably concise A Sociology of Modern China wears its scholarship lightly and paints an intimate and complex portrait of Chinese society, all the while avoiding clichés and simplifications. He delves into China's history and examines the country's many different social strata so as to better understand the enormous challenges and opportunities with which its people are confronted. After discussing the long march toward reform and the crises along the way - among them the 1989 protests which culminated in the events in Tiananmen Square and elsewhere - Rocca dedicates the second half of the book to the major questions facing the country (or, at the very least, its political elites) today: new forms of social stratification; the interaction between the market and the state; growing individualism; and the pressures exerted by social conflict and political change. In eschewing culturalist visions, Rocca thoroughly and successfully deconstructs received wisdom about Chinese society to reveal a thriving nation and its people.

China today is never out of the news: from human rights controversies and the continued legacy of Tiananmen Square, to global coverage of the Beijing Olympics, and the Chinese 'economic miracle'. It seems a country of contradictions: a peasant society with some of the world's most futuristic cities, heir to an ancient civilization that is still trying to find a modern identity. This Very Short Introduction offers the reader with no previous knowledge of China a variety of ways to understand the world's most populous nation, giving a short, integrated picture of modern Chinese society, culture, economy, politics and art. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

The first of its kind, this collection of critical essays opens up new venues in the comparative study of science and culture by focusing on the formative decades of modern China in the late nineteenth and first half of the twentieth century. It provides a wide-ranging examination of the cultural and intellectual history of science and technology in modern China.From anti-imperialism to the technology of Chinese writing, the commodification of novelties to the rise of the modern professional scientist, new lexica and appropriations of the past, the contributors map out a transregional and global circuitry of modern knowledge and practical know-how, nationalism and the amalgamation of new social practices. Contributors include: Iwo Amelung, Fa-ti Fan, Shen Guowei, Danian Hu, Joachim Kurtz, Eugenia Lean, Thomas S. Mullaney, Hugh Shapiro, Grace Shen, and Jing Tsu.

Contemporary China is dynamic and complex. Recent dramatic changes in the Chinese economy, society, and environment pose numerous challenges for scholars of China. This Handbook will define contemporary China Studies for the social sciences: investigating how we can best study China; exploring the transformations of contemporary China that inform how we study China; presenting the breadth and depth of the China Studies field; and identify future directions for China Studies. In two volumes, the Handbook situates China Studies in history and context. Each chapter in Part One provides an overview and historiography of how scholars have conceptualized the Chinese state, nation, economy and environment, and analyzes trends in terms of different research approaches, types of sources, and trends in the study of these broad concepts. The next five parts cover substantive themes in China Studies, including economic transformations; politics and government; China as a global actor; urbanization and urban development; and Chinese society. In conclusion, the Handbook draws together critical discussions of emerging issues of transdisciplinary approaches to China Studies, the future of Chinese historical Studies, and the future of China in comparative contexts.

As the first book to introduce and analyze cultural studies in contemporary China, this volume is an important resource for Western scholars wishing to understand the rise and development of cultural studies in China. Organized according to subject, it includes extensive material examining the relationships between culture and politics, as well as culture and institutions in contemporary China. Further, it discusses the development of cultural debates.

As China has evolved into an economic superpower, interest in its culture and current place in the world has skyrocketed; China Studies are now taught in almost every college or university in the U.S., as well as in many junior high and high schools. Covering modern China, not just Chinese culture from an historical perspective, this important new book fills a sizeable gap in the literature. Originating as a Carnegie Whitney Award-winning book project, Ye’s research guide goes beyond a mere list of print resources to reflect the predominant role of digital resources in the changing landscape of scholarly research, teaching critical information literacy concepts and skills in the field of China Studies by Sketching in basic facts and figures of Chinese history and culture from antiquity to the present Detailing key English- and Chinese-language resources in literature, government, statistics, art, film, history, philosophy, religion, economics, law, politics, and more Offering strategies for finding research sources like articles and dissertations, as well as primary sources such as government documents and archives Including guidance on how to acquire print and electronic resources in Chinese This richly detailed, up-to-date work will guide researchers at all levels to the most important resources in the field of Modern China Studies.

"The present volume has been conceptualized and written in honour of one of those scholars who has spent the greater part of his academic life trying to understand political developments in China - both in the PRC and in Taiwan. Jurgen Domes was among the first political scientists who tried to apply the analytical instruments of their discipline to Chinese politics, and ever since the early 1960s he has continuously been offering analytical views on China which have found an attentive international audience." "Fourteen internationally renowned scholars of Chinese Studies have contributed to this volume. They offer reflections on Chinese politics which touch the diverse questions in which Domes has always been interested."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved