The Search for Modern China

The Search for Modern China is a 1990 non-fiction book by Jonathan D. Spence, published by Century Hutchinson and W. W. Norton & Company.

It covers the period 1600 to 1989.[1] According to Spence, the goal was to explain how Modern China was created rather than writing about Modern China directly.[2] Spence stated that he chose 1600 as the starting point so he could "get a full sense of how China's current problems have arisen, and of what resources [...] the Chinese can call upon to solve them."[3]

Theresa Munford in Far Eastern Economic Review, described it as "more of a textbook" than The Gate of Heavenly Peace, which she described as lighter reading.[4]

  1. ^ Schwarcz, Vera (1990-05-13). "CHINA: THE HARD ROAD TO NOW". The New York Times. Retrieved 2022-08-16.
  2. ^ Ching, p. 336.
  3. ^ Spence, ISBN 9780393307801, p. xx.
  4. ^ Munford, Theresa (1990-10-18). "From Ming to Mao". Far Eastern Economic Review. Vol. 150, no. 42. Hong Kong. p. 42. ProQuest 208179377.