From the Opium War to the May Fourth Movement (Concise Edition)

Author: Hu Sheng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1998-03-01
Features: Between November and December 1995, the author used his time for convalescence to reread From the Opium War to the May Fourth Movement, which was written in early 1980 and published in 1981. Since the completion of this book, it was the first time he reread it from cover to cover. From the Opium War to the May Fourth Movement is approximately 700,000 words in total. In June 1981, it was published by the People's Publishing House, and later, a version with larger font size (No. 4) was released by the Shanghai People's Publishing House. Shortly after, the Hongqi Publishing House also published an abridged version of the book. All three editions have been reprinted multiple times. According to the information I have, their cumulative print run exceeds 3 million copies. The book covers the early period of China's semi-colonial and semi-feudal era, specifically the history before 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 that modern Chinese history should be defined as the 110 years from the Opium War in 1840 to the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, while the history after the victory of the New 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 thirty years after the founding of the People's Republic of China, it seems more appropriate to divide modern and contemporary Chinese history based on social nature. The book did not adopt a title like Modern Chinese History, not only to avoid repetition but also because it only covers the early period of modern Chinese history.