Shen Pao-chen and China's Modernization in the Nineteenth Century
Edition: New Ed edition
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: February 13, 2003
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 415
ISBN-13: 9780521531269
Subjects: Asian / Middle Eastern history: c 1500 to c 1900; Modern period, c 1500 onwards; History: World; History; History - General History; China; Asia - China; Renaissance; History / Renaissance; History-Asia - China; Shen, Pao-chen, --1820-1879; Shen, Pao-chen,--1820-1879
First sentence: The city of Foochow, the capital of Fukien, was divided into two adminstrative halves by a major thoroughfare, with the Min district in the east and Hou-kuan in the west.
Description: This is a study of China's attempt to meet the challenges of the nineteenth century. Using the career of Shen Pao-chen as a looking glass, Professor Pong examines the political awakening of a small coterie of Ching dynasty officials as they responded to dynastic decline and the ever-growing threat of Western encroachment on China. Driven by a deep sense of crisis, they dedicated themselves to "self-strengthening," a two-pronged effort to restore the vitality of the Ching dynasty and to protect it from further foreign inroads by adopting Western technology, especially military technology.
Notes: Cambridge Studies in Chinese History, Literature and Institutions