The Chinese century
Subtitle: a photographic history of the last hundred years
By: Jonathan D. Spence & Annping Chin ; photographs researched by the authors, Colin Jacobson and Annabel Merullo.
Contributors: Chin, Ann-ping, 1950-
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: Random House
Published: 1996
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 264
Subjects: China -- History -- 19th century -- Pictorial works.; China -- History -- 20th century -- Pictorial works.
Description: China is one of the great question marks on the world stage as we approach the third millennium. No longer a sleeping giant, neither is China a stable ally of the West. Economically it is an emerging powerhouse, and politically it is precariously balanced between the free market and military dictatorship. There could be no better time to try to understand China's history - the distance it has traveled, and where it may be going from herethan today.

The Chinese Century tells the story in over two hundred and fifty rare, eloquent photographs that have been chosen from archives, libraries, and private collections throughout China, Taiwan, and the West. Many of the photographs have never been seen outside China.

The photographs are paired with a stunning historical text by one of the West's most respected China scholars, Jonathan D. Spence, writing here for the first time with his wife, Annping Chin. The narrative traces the nation's disintegration into civil and world war, Communist revolution, and its slow reemergence as a military and economic superpower.

Focusing on the lives of ordinary Chinese as well as on the towering figures such as Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong, Spence weaves an intricate and fascinating social, political, and military history.
Notes: Includes index.