From the Opium War to the May Fourth Movement

Author: Hu Sheng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2000-01-01
Features: This book covers the first part of China's semi-colonial and semi-feudal era, specifically the period before the beginning of the New Democratic Revolution led by the working class. Although it has long been customary to refer to this period as modern Chinese history, some have suggested defining modern Chinese history as the 110 years from the Opium War in 1840 to the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, while the period after the victory of the Chinese democratic revolution, when China shook off its semi-colonial and semi-feudal society and entered the socialist era, should be called contemporary Chinese history. More than three decades after the founding of the People's Republic of China, it seems more appropriate to divide modern Chinese history and contemporary Chinese history based on social nature. This book does not adopt a title like "Modern Chinese History," not only to avoid repetition but also because this is only the early part of modern Chinese history.