{"title":"Abolishing Boundaries: Global Utopias in the Formation of Modern Chinese Political Thought, 1880–1940 by Peter Zarrow (review)","authors":"Matthew Galway","doi":"10.1353/tcc.2022.0013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/tcc.2022.0013","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":42116,"journal":{"name":"Twentieth-Century China","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2022-01-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45033805","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"War, Disunity, and State Building In China, 1912–1949","authors":"Emily M. Hill","doi":"10.1353/tcc.2022.0012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/tcc.2022.0012","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:Xavier Paulès and David Serfass—in their introduction to this special issue—call for greater recognition of the many agents involved in multicentered state-building processes during China's Republican era (1912–1949). This article addresses their intriguing idea by linking it to the theoretical paradigm associated with Charles Tilly (1929–2008), in which states are formed and strengthened through war. The article briefly reviews how Tilly's paradigm has figured in research on China's early twentieth-century era of conflict among regional strongmen and struggle against Japanese invasions. Recounting trends construed as unifying processes, it then reconsiders the idea that the unity of the People's Republic of China (PRC) grew out of regional and central state-building efforts of the Republican period. With an eye to the potential for further analytical exploration of conflicts born of political disunity in China, the article concludes by proposing greater precision in the conceptualization of centralization and continuity in Chinese state-building processes.","PeriodicalId":42116,"journal":{"name":"Twentieth-Century China","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2022-01-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47294441","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Questioning the Teleology of the Central State in Republican China","authors":"Xavier Paulès, David Serfass","doi":"10.1353/tcc.2022.0016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/tcc.2022.0016","url":null,"abstract":"No doubt the expansion of the reach of the state can be considered one of the prominent features of the twentieth century.1 Many studies have described this process in Western Europe and beyond.2 In the case of China, however, there is a marked tendency in the historiography to assume that, except for the Qing dynasty’s lastditch efforts to modernize from 1901–1911 with the New Policies (新政 xinzheng) reforms and a short-lived attempt during the Nanjing Decade (1928–1937), the first half of the twentieth century represented, for the most part, a discontinuation in the process of state building. It was in order to question this assumption that we organized a conference on “State-Building through Political Disunity in Republican China,” held in Paris at EHESS (École des hautes études en sciences sociales) in September 2018. The idea was to target the Republican period (1912–1949) as one of critical importance in the process of state building in modern China. A key aspect of the Republican period, in fact, is political fragmentation. None of the central governments asserting themselves and (mostly) recognized as such—the Beiyang governments (1912–1928) and the subsequent Nationalist government (1928–1949)—was in a position to control China Proper, let alone the whole territory formerly dominated by the Qing dynasty. Moreover, these central governments faced many formidable challengers, including regional warlord and Communist regimes as well as pro-Japanese governments. Contemporaries lamented the lack of effective centralization because they saw political disunity as a decisive obstacle on the road toward a modern and powerful China capable of (among other things) renegotiating the “unequal treaties” as Meiji Japan had done. This Republican concern for disunity and its negative effect on state building tends to persist among today’s specialists on Republican China (regardless of nationality). Admittedly, scholars have demonstrated that the Beiyang governments, despite their","PeriodicalId":42116,"journal":{"name":"Twentieth-Century China","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2022-01-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41662378","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Tea War: A History of Capitalism in China and India by Andrew B. Liu (review)","authors":"Elizabeth Joy Reynolds","doi":"10.1353/tcc.2021.0034","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/tcc.2021.0034","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":42116,"journal":{"name":"Twentieth-Century China","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2021-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47834168","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Soundscapes of Uyghur Islam by Rachel Harris (review)","authors":"E. Schluessel","doi":"10.1353/tcc.2021.0032","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/tcc.2021.0032","url":null,"abstract":"descendants had settled there. Chapter 3 places the tradition in the context of Daoist ordinations and points out just how Longhushan adopted and standardized traditional forms, while chapter 4 focuses on the ritual components of the school. Its development under the Song and Yuan is the subject of chapter 5, followed by a detailed discussion of its role under the Ming and Qing in chapters 6 and 7. The last two chapters outline its development from the nineteenth century to the present day, with the sixty-fifth Heavenly Master residing in Taiwan. In several cases, major representatives, such as the forty-third patriarch, Zhang Yuchu (1361–1410), are presented in great detail, providing a vivid picture of the lives and roles of high-ranking Daoist masters in traditional China. Overall, it turns out, the Heavenly Master was a multifaceted figure: not only highly venerated among the general populace, he was also a celestial official empowered in the otherworldly hierarchy and the key representative of a central institution that served the imperial government by standardizing practices, registering ordinations, licensing priests, tithing lay followers, and taming ecstatic and demonic cults by either suppressing or integrating them. As such, he was the core of a deep state, an encompassing bureaucracy that continued to adapt to the changing social and political context over the centuries, in all cases parallel to, and closely interacting with, the popular ranking of gods (Earth God, City God, Jade Emperor) and the imperial administration. Like the latter, the Heavenly Masters strove to establish and maintain monopolies, such as over the issuing of official documents, the performance of essential rites, and the appointment of key officials. However, being a religious organization, much of their authority was symbolic rather than concrete and their legitimation came from the realm beyond rather than from this world. Today, after many tribulations in the twentieth century, the institution continues, with its leader in Taiwan and the mountain undergoing renovation and expansion. Goossaert succeeds admirably in presenting the complexity of the institution as it developed over the centuries. He relies on a vast array of sources, ranging from established documents found in Daoist collections through stele inscriptions to local manuscripts and personal records. His research is meticulous throughout, bringing together textual expertise, in-depth historical examination, sociological evaluation, and anthropological awareness. He builds his work on previous studies, which he acknowledges frequently. However, after the first chapter (which covers a rather well-examined topic), he moves into largely uncovered ground. His work is awe-inspiring, pathbreaking, and breathtakingly comprehensive, raising the understanding of the Heavenly Master tradition and the role of leading Daoists in traditional Chinese society to a completely new level. It is at the forefront of th","PeriodicalId":42116,"journal":{"name":"Twentieth-Century China","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2021-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42292886","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Unworthy Scholar from Pingjiang: Republican-Era Martial Arts Fiction by John Christopher Hamm (review)","authors":"Lehyla G. Heward","doi":"10.1353/tcc.2021.0030","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/tcc.2021.0030","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":42116,"journal":{"name":"Twentieth-Century China","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2021-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48739284","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"China and the Cholera Pandemic: Restructuring Society Under Mao by Xiaoping Fang (review)","authors":"Rachel Core","doi":"10.1353/tcc.2021.0028","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/tcc.2021.0028","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":42116,"journal":{"name":"Twentieth-Century China","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2021-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47096832","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The \"Acid Test\" of the Revolution: Demobilization and the Collapse of Chiang Kai-Shek's Military Coalition in 1929","authors":"Peter Worthing","doi":"10.1353/tcc.2021.0024","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/tcc.2021.0024","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:In early 1929, Chiang Kai-shek initiated a demobilization movement that he saw as an essential step in breaking the cycle of destructive \"warlord\" conflicts and putting the new Nanjing government on a sound financial footing. Many Chinese shared this goal, with some describing demobilization as the critical issue upon which the future of the Republic of China depended: a proverbial \"acid test\" of the Nationalist revolution. Though unsuccessful in the end, Chiang came close to achieving his goal. He built a broad consensus among the major military commanders in support of a plan to reduce the size of China's military, to restrict military spending, and to create a centralized command structure. This article reexamines the course of events in early 1929 in order to better understand this demobilization movement and the reasons for its failure, which had such profound implications for the Nationalist regime.","PeriodicalId":42116,"journal":{"name":"Twentieth-Century China","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2021-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42763732","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Unending Capitalism: How Consumerism Negated China's Communist Revolution by Karl Gerth (review)","authors":"D. Ho","doi":"10.1353/tcc.2021.0029","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/tcc.2021.0029","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":42116,"journal":{"name":"Twentieth-Century China","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2021-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42137056","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Spiritual Mother and Intellectual Sons: Emma Goldman and Young Chinese Anarchists","authors":"R. Hsu","doi":"10.1353/tcc.2021.0023","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/tcc.2021.0023","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:This paper tackles contacts and interactions between Emma Goldman and Chinese anarchists in the 1920s, during her exile in Europe and Canada, illuminating littleknown transpacific anarchist networks in a period when both Goldman's career and anarchism as an international movement were in decline. The study sheds light on the ways by which and extent to which Goldman sought to kindle the young generation's interest in anarchism and on the latter's creative adaptation of her ideas in a cross-cultural context. Showcasing the interactions of Qin Baopu, Lu Jianbo, and Ba Jin with Goldman, the article reveals how young Chinese anarchists helped forge a transpacific network of anarchist advocacy that crossed gender, generational, and national divides. I argue that these young anarchist intellectuals exhibited masculine rationality, philosophical creativity, and pragmatic flexibility in adapting Goldman's ideas to the increasingly oppressive political climate in China. In sum, the article unveils the multivalent effects of Goldman's thought—including her views on Bolshevism, anarchists' place in national revolution, and free love—on her Chinese interlocutors in the 1920s.","PeriodicalId":42116,"journal":{"name":"Twentieth-Century China","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2021-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42876563","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}