Inventing China through History: The May Fourth Approach to Historiography

by Q. Edward Wang

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780791491829
Publisher:	State University of New York Press
Publication date:	10/12/2000
Series:	SUNY series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
File size:	935 KB

About the Author

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

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

1. Introduction

History and Modernity
The Chinese Context
Tradition and Identity

2. New Horizon, New Attitude

Past versus Present
Perceiving the West
New Historiography

3. Scientific Inquiry

Innovation or Renovation?
The American Model
History and Philology
Rankean Historiography

4. Equivalences and Differences

Methodological Attempt (A)
Methodological Attempt (B)
In Discovery of Ancient China
In Search of Modern History

5. Seeking China’s National Identity

China-Based Modern Culture
History and Public Sphere
History and Politics
Ti and Yong: A Reconsideration

6. Epilogue

Glossary
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

Describing the rise of national history in early 20th-century China, Wang (History, Rowan U.) focuses on a group of liberal historians, among them well known figures such as Liang Qichao and Hu Shi as well as several lesser-known ones. He describes the movement of 1919, which searched for a scientific presentation of the country's national past inspired by western and Japanese history, and tried to bridge a perceived gap between tradition and modernity, native and foreign, and past and present. He also explores the impact of the new history on China and Taiwan at the end of the century. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

"Wang is successful in bringing out the possibilities offered by liberal historiography in re-linking the past and the present in the formulation of a Chinese modernity." — Journal of Oriental Studies

"This book performs an important service to scholars and students interested in the intellectual culture of the first half of the twentieth century in general, and of the May Fourth Movement in particular. It offers a detailed and focused look at the development and evolution of the discipline of history and the ideological and political corollary, thus filling a lacuna in the existing historiography on the intellectual history of the May Fourth and Republic periods." — On-cho Ng, coeditor of Imagining Boundaries: Changing Confucian Doctrines, Texts, and Hermeneutics

"Wang's smoothly written book re-presents the rich heritage of professional historiography in twentieth-century China that has long been ignored by scholars interested in China's volatile and exciting political revolutions. Wang not only narrates the major trends of a large sweep of professional historiography in a digestible manner, but also offers a clear and compelling historical interpretation of this data." — Timothy Cheek, author of Propaganda and Culture in Mao's China: Deng Tuo and the Intelligentsia

From the Publisher