Inventing China Through History: The May Fourth Approach to Historiography (Suny Series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture) - Softcover

Wang, Q. Edward

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0791447324 ISBN 13: 9780791447321

Publisher: State University of New York Press, 2000

Synopsis

A critical examination of the rise of national history in early-twentieth-century China.

This book describes the rise of national history in early-twentieth-century China. It studies the careers of a group of liberal historians including well-known figures such as Liang Qichao and Hu Shi and lesser known figures such as He Bingsong, Fu Sinian, Yao Congwu, and Chen Yinke. Buoyed by the quest for "Mr. Science" and "Mr. Democracy" during the May Fourth Movement of 1919, these historians searched for a scientific presentation of China's national past, inspired by the Western and Japanese practice of scientific history. Their efforts to bridge the perceived gap between tradition and modernity, native and foreign, past and present, created a new, scientific model of history in China. The book also discusses the significance of this historiographical experience in late-twentieth-century China and Taiwan.

About this title

About the Author

Q. Edward Wang is Associate Professor and Chair of the History Department at Rowan University.

Edition details

• Publisher: State University of New York Press
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0791447324
• ISBN 13: 9780791447321
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 316