Combining meticulous scholarship with the accessibility of biography, this volume provides readers with an intriguing means of exploring the meaning of modernity in China. The ten individuals whose life stories are chronicled here are not all extraordinary, but their experiences all reveal a China far different and far more complex than the traditional stereotype of a stagnant society waiting passively for the West to bring its modernizing influence. A lively Manchu princess, an illiterate peasant woman, a nineteenth-century Chinese photographer, the determined students of May Fourth—these are just a sampling of the men and women who bring Chinese history, in all its dynamism and tragedy, to life in these pages.
Joyce A. Madancy, Union College A fascinating array of Chinese are profiled in this book, introducing readers to more than four hundred years of history. For anyone interested in how individual women and men—including scholars, courtesans, merchants, factory managers, students, revolutionaries, and domestic workers—experienced and contributed to China’s social, intellectual, and political transformations, this volume of essays by established scholars of Chinese studies will open many avenues of inquiry.
Roger Thompson, Western Washington University This unique and extremely valuable book beautifully reflects the richness of Chinese social life. The biographies do a superb job of expressing how fundamental changes in China over the past five hundred years affected individuals in a variety of settings. By focusing on the very real human dimensions of Chinese history, the text is superbly equipped to enrich and engage students of China at all levels.
David Pietz, Washington State University