American Perception of China

Author: Harold Isaacs (USA)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-07-01
Features: What kind of life did the Chinese people live at the turn of the last century? What upheavals and changes did they experience? What cultural traditions and outdated customs did they uphold? What were the specific conditions in cities, rural areas, and all levels of society? This series of books will answer these questions. The authors of this series were Westerners who lived in China a century ago and had a deep understanding of Chinese culture. With a unique perspective and insight, they observed and examined this mysterious land, documenting their observations and amazements in vivid and descriptive language. Each book preserves numerous old photographs, allowing us to more intuitively and clearly look back at the traumatic years of the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China. This book is part of Harold Isaacs' "Scratches on Our Minds: American Images of China and India," focusing on China. This survey, using systematic methods from social life, illustrates the significant fluctuations in the dominant American responses to China over 170 years of U.S.-China relations. These impressions and attitudes were largely products of their time, place, and environment, and it explores the relationship between these impressions and attitudes and politics, international relations, the formulation of government policies, and the formation of public opinion.