Author: Robert E. BedeskiPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : China
Languages : en
Pages : 1002
Book Description
"The destruction of absolutes has been the main concern of modern man. Perhaps this event has been no more evident than in the arena of political affairs. The main expression of this has occurred in the development of the state, that set of structures, habits, attitudes, ideals, and myths having no other source of origin than human activity. Unlike most traditional forms of political organization, the modern nation-state, especially as it developed in the West, does not trace its authority to divine or supernatural intervention in human affairs. To understand more fully the ramifications of this development, I have chosen to examine the case of Nationalist China. The decade before the Japanese invasion in 1937 witnessed a series of events which placed in high relief the important considerations of state and nation building in the present age. Heretofore, the efforts of Chinese Nationalism at nation-building had been treated largely as an aberration in China's search for modern identity, or as an accident resulting from the shortsightedness and cupidity of various important figures. The main premise of the present study, however, is that if indeed a decade of Nationalist government was an accident, then its lessons and experiences were shared by ALL Chinese, whether Nationalists or Communists or liberal democrats. The problems which confronted China in 1928 would have faced any Chinese government: foreign imperialism, domestic warlordism, rural poverty and general disorder"--Page 1