The Changing Face of China
From Mao to Market
Published on 1. October 2006
Book
Paperback/Softback
384 pages
978-0-19-280734-2 (ISBN)
Description
Where is China heading in the 21st century? Can its Communist Party survive or is it being challenged by growing inequality and unrest? Will the US and China cooperate or compete in a dangerous future? Will China's economic boom be brought to a halt by environmental catastrophe? In this highly readable account, John Gittings provides the essential information to help answer these vital questions for the world. In the 60 years since Mao Zedong took the road to victory, China has undergone not one but two revolutions. The first swept away the old corrupt society and sought to build a 'spotless' new socialism behind closed doors; the second since Mao's death has focused on an economic agenda which accepts the goals of global capitalism. From Mao to the global market, Gittings charts this complex but epic tale and concludes with some hard questions for the future.
Reviews / Votes
The Changing Face of China By John Gittings is the most comprehensive of the four books. Socialist Review. The book contains a wealth of information and is certainly a good counterweight to recent books which emphasise Mao's personality as the key to China's history in the 20th Century. Guardian the history of modern China is an epic one, told superbly by Gittings GuardianMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
14 halftone plates
Dimensions
Height: 200 mm
Width: 130 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
297 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-280734-2 (9780192807342)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
John Gittings was the Guardian's China specialist and East Asia editor (1983-2003) and opened the newspaper's first staff bureau on the mainland in Shanghai. He began to visit China during the Cultural Revolution and witnessed the major events of the past thirty years, including the Tiananmen Square protests and the Hong Kong handover. He has also taught at the Polytechnic of Central London and was an acting editor of the China Quarterly. Throughout his working life, he has sought to project a balanced view of China and its role in the world and to avoid uncritical praise or blame in what has always been a controversial field. His books include works on Chinese foreign policy, military affairs, politics, and domestic society. He has also written on international and nuclear politics and was for many years the Guardian's foreign leader-writer.
Content
1. Introduction: The new 'New China' ; 2. Search for Socialism: from Liberation to Utopia ; 3. Mao Zedong versus the Party: from cult to Cultural Revolution ; 4. The Rebel Alternative: from 1919 to the Red Guards ; 5. Second Cultural Revolution: the abortive Great Debate ; 6. Economics in Command: the modernization of China ; 7. Peasant China Transformed: the rise of rural enterprise ; 8. The Growth of Dissent: poets and democracy ; 9. The Party under Pressure: reform and reaction ; 10. The Scholars Speak Out: humanism or bourgeios liberalism? ; 11. The Door Opens Wide: foreign trade and the world economy ; 12. Tiananmen Square, 1989: turning-point for China ; 13. Into the New Millennium: China transformed ; 14. China and the World: from Mao to market ; Chronology ; China's Political Leaders ; Select Bibliography ; Index of Names ; General Index