6th Edition

Modernization and Revolution in China

By June Grasso, Jay Corrin, Michael Kort Copyright 2024

    Extensively revised and fully updated in this sixth edition, this popular textbook conveys the drama of China’s struggle to modernize against the backdrop of a proud and difficult history.

    Featuring a new analysis of the issues facing China’s fifth generation of leaders, it explores prominent developments including China’s relations with its neighbors and the United States, the humanitarian crises in Tibet and Xinjiang, and the progression of Xi Jinping. Incorporating new analytical summaries in each chapter and updated suggested readings, this new edition covers:

    • The breakdown of imperial China in the face of Japanese and Western encroachments
    • The struggles between the ideologies and armies of Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong
    • Mao Zedong’s Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution
    • Deng Xiaoping’s reforms and the resulting dismantling of socialism and economic growth • China’s position as a world superpower and Xi Jinping’s leadership
    • The Covid-19 pandemic

    Spanning the years from China’s defeat in the Opium Wars to its current status as a world superpower, the sixth edition of Modernization and Revolution in China is an essential textbook for courses on modern Chinese history, Chinese politics, and modern East Asia.

    1. The Middle Kingdom  2. Patterns of Traditional Chinese Life  3. Imperial Breakdown and Western Invasion  4. The New Chinese Republic  5. Nationalists and Communists  6. China at War  7. Creating the New Order 1949–1957  8. The Great Leap and the Bad Fall  9. The Cultural Revolution  10. A Second Revolution: The Reforms of Deng Xiaoping  11. The Leadership of Jiang Zemin  12. The Fourth Generation  13. The Xi Jinping Era—China as Superpower

    Biography

    June Grasso is Associate Professor of Social Sciences at the College of General Studies, Boston University, USA.

    Jay P. Corrin is Professor Emeritus of Social Sciences at the College of General Studies, Boston University, USA.

    Michael G. Kort is Professor of Social Sciences at the College of General Studies, Boston University, USA.