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The Search for Modern China

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The Search for Modern China

Written by: Jonathan D. Spence
Narrated by: Frederick Davidson
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The history of China is as rich and strange as that of any country on earth. Yet for many, China’s history remains unknown, or known only through the stylized images that generations in the West have cherished or reviled as truth.

With his command of character and event - the product of 30 years of research and reflection in the field - Spence dispels those myths in a powerful narrative. Over four centuries of Chinese history, from the waning days of the once-glorious Ming Dynasty to Deng Xiaoping’s bloody suppression of the pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square, Spence fashions the astonishing story of the effort to achieve a modern China. Through the ideas and emotions of its reformist Confucian scholars, its poets, novelists, artists, and visionary students, we see one of the world’s oldest cultures struggling to define itself as Chinese and modern.

©1990 Jonathan D. Spence (P)2000 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Asia World
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What the critics say

“To understand…China’s past there is no better place to start than Jonathan D. Spence’s excellent new book.” ( New York Times Book Review)
“Monumental…History that is always lively, always concrete, always comprehensible.” ( New York Times)
“Rich and dramatic…A pleasure to read, as well as being immensely informative.” ( San Francisco Chronicle)
All stars
Most Relevant
Narrator is great.

Story is great.

The first 1/3rd is about the Qing, 1600-1900ish. Lots of talk about Manchuria, the Opium wars, and Confucianism. It reads like an old Will Durant History book.

Then, there’s an unexpected but thrilling pivot. Instead of talking about wars and religion and diplomacy, Marxism Leninism enters the picture. All of a sudden the work begins to read like contemporary politics. The nuances of Communist doctrine become inextricably intertwined with the narrative, and it feels extremely modern.

The story ends at the very beginning of the 1990’s, where the author takes time to draw parallels to the reform movements of the late 1880’s—where the Qing tried to save their empire and its ideology on their own terms, without calculating to any foreign powers—to the lack of reform in the late 1980’s where China once again wants to enter the global market and diplomacy without changing its culture, economy, politics, or ideology.

All around extremely good book. I enjoyed all of it. The author knows the breeze through some of the very old stuff and keep it interesting, and then to slow down as we approach modernity and get into the intricacies and nuances of communism and Chinas interactions with global trade.

Absolutely fantastic

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The narrator takes some getting used to but you can eventually just sink into the narrative. Spends most of the time in Modern or near-Modern China, with relatively little in the Ming Period.

Takes some getting used to, but great work.

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