Product Description

In the second half of the 19th century, China appeared as the sick man of Asia, rocked by recurrent revolts and huge natural disasters, ruled by an anachronistic imperial system and humiliated by foreign invasions. Karl Marx saw it as bound to disintegrate, like 'any mummy carefully preserved in a hermetically sealed coffin'. The first half of the 20th century was even worse, culminating in fourteen years of invasion by Japan, four years of civil war and three decades of chaotic, oppressive rule by Mao Zedong that killed tens of millions. Now, at the start of the 21st century, China is a major global force, booming economically and confident that it holds the keys to a future in which it will rival the United States.It is impossible to understand modern China without understanding the country's terrible recent past and Jonathan Fenby's magnificent new book is the essential work. "The Penguin History of Modern China" is both a brilliant narrative, crammed with surprising and interesting stories, and a profound study of the nature of political power and its abuse.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #21914 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-29
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 816 pages

Sunday Telegraph
`[Fenby's] book is a miracle of thoroughness, truthfulness and readability - the perfect primer for a time when China is about to enter all our lives.'

Times
'Fenby excels at weaving the strands of his complex narrative into heroic and more often harrowing tales. There are sharp pen portraits of the heroes and (mostly) villains of the piece ... Fenby's enthusiasm is infectious'

Herald
'Reads like a novel and is never less than thoughtful and compassionate for the fate of a much-abused people ... [Fenby has] a journalist's eye for telling detail'

Customer Reviews

A fantastic read!
I wanted to learn about China's modern political history in light of the fact that Beijing was hosting the Olympic Games this year. I stumbled across this book by Johnathan Fenby at my local library and was really quite impressed with what I read. Fenby has written the book in such a way that you can't put it down until you've read an entire chapter! I feel this book has a number of attributes which i'll speak of below:

1) This book is accessible to all: to academics and readers with a general interest in China. This is only the case because Fenby has got the balance right: key events in China's history haven't been talked about in vast amounts of detail to bore the reader, but at the same time the book isn't oversimplified (and in fact is highly informative, as Fenby employs a wide range of resources and statistics).
2) The book is up-to-date. Fenby talks about modern issues in China such as Hu Jintao's vision of a "Peaceful rise in a harmonious world" and China's absorption of huge quantites of metals and oil which is leading to price rises in these commodities. Up-to-date statistics from 2007 and 2008 are included.
3) I think the book is balanced: Fenby doesn't shy away from recounting the full extent of the horrors of the Great Leap Forward, but at the same time puts across clearly how proud Chinese people are today of their country's achievements which have come through economic reform with the CCP at the helm.
4) The book is complete: no major event is left out: Fenby talks about practically all the major events in China's modern political history (from the loss of Hong Kong in the Opium Wars of 1840 to the fall of the last imperial dynasty, to the rise of both Nationalism and Communism in China; China's brief experience of western-style democracy and elections in 1912; War with Japan; the ascendency of Mao and the CCP; economic reforms under Deng Xiaoping, the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989; and China under the leadership of modern CCP members such as Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao). Fenby also mentions how China's international relations with the West (namely the US), Japan and Russia have evolved since the fall of the Qing dynasty.

Before reading Fenby's book, I had read Jung Chang's "Mao The Unknown Story" and felt Fenby's book was an excellent accomplimant: Chang's book gives you a detailed insight into China under Mao, whilst Fenby's book informs the reader of China before Mao and what happened in China after Mao (which has brought China to where it is today: a global economic power).

A thoroughly good read, I look forward to finding books of such a high standard covering political histories for differnt parts of the world.

sorry but its not good enough
Studying History myself, I think the Penguin History completely lost the plot. I agree with other review. It gives me a feeling like 'handling in an essay by tomorrow. If you really want read something about Chinese History, I recommend 'The Rise of Modern China' by Oxford University Press. It is much much better, but a bit more expensive. I still think worth it, honestly.

A disappointment, and a rush-job.
This is a disappointing book, and it needn't have been; Jonathan Fenby, while not a trained historian, is a strong and intelligent writer, and 'Generalissimo' was excellent. This, however, clearly shows signs of being a rush job done for the Olympic Year; for one thing, given how recently Fenby's other books came out, it seems extremely unlikely he had the time that a book of this magnitude requires. The writing is journalistic and in places glib, without the depth of sources or statistics that a book like this needs. Most bizarrely, there are no Chinese-language sources cited in the text! Despite ideological bias, good, interesting historical work is done on the mainland - never mind Taiwan and Hong Kong - and it seems odd to overlook it so completely.

It's still a decent introduction to modern China for someone new to the field, but it doesn't offer the depth or insight that other books in the Penguin History series have. The strongest sections are on the 1930s and 1940s, where Fenby has done previous work; others have been put together at some speed from other English books, most noticeably MAO'S LAST REVOLUTION for the Cultural Revolution sections. This isn't necessarily a bad thing; MLR, for instance, though a great book, is not that accessible, but the lack of original research or insight is noticeable. Ultimately, it's a weak entry in a normally great series of books.