1600–1950
Huaiyin Li
overview
The Making of the Modern Chinese State: 1600–1950 offers an historical analysis of the formation of the modern Chinese state from the mid-17th century to the mid-20th century, providing refreshing and provocative interpretations on almost every major issue regarding modern China’s development.
The book explores why today’s China is unlike any other nation-states in size and structure. More specifically, it examines its position as the only country in today’s world that is built on the basis of a former empire both territorially and demographically, and how it has remained the only authoritarian state among the major powers and one of the few communist states that has survived into the 21st century. In doing so, the book addresses and highlights the importance of several key issues, including geopolitical strategy, fiscal constitution, and identity building as the key variables in shaping the outcome of state transformation.
Enhanced by a selection of informative tables and illustrations, The Making of the Modern Chinese State: 1600–1950 is ideal for undergraduates and graduates studying East Asian History, Chinese history, empires in Asia and state formation.
contents
Preface
1. Introduction
Part One. The Formation of the Qing State
2. The Rise of an Early-Modern Territorial State: China in the Early to Mid-Qing Period
3. Limits to Territorial Expansion: Fiscal Constitution and War-Making under the Qing
Part Two. The Transition to a Sovereign State
4. Regionalized Centralism: The Resilience and Fragility of the Late Qing State
5. Between the Frontier and the Coast: Geopolitical Strategy Reoriented
6. A Nation-State in the Making: Fiscal Expansion and the New Policies
Part Three. The Making of a Unified and Centralized State
7. Centralized Regionalism: The Rise of Regional Fiscal-Military States
8. In Search of National Unity: Frontier Rebuilding under the Republic
9. The Fate of Semi-Centralism: The Nationalist State Succeeded and Failed
10. Total Centralism at Work: The Confluence of Breakthroughs in State-Making
11. Conclusion
List of Characters
References
