Revolutionary China: Yan'an Road: Yan'an Road

Author: Mark Selden
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-03-01
Features: The book Yan'an Road conducted research on wartime bases, forming the basis for later studies on the Chinese Communist movement from the 1920s through the entire period of the War of Resistance and the Civil War, and extending (through regional and local studies) to the present day. This method allows for observing social change from perspectives ranging from the grassroots to regional, ethnic, and global levels, as well as from the international system down to the microcosm of bases, counties, villages, and families. Thus, it makes it possible to study politics and progress from a human perspective—their origins and transformations, and the ways they affect economies and societies—dimensions that were previously excluded by state and world studies. Although this method is particularly suited for wartime, when over a dozen geographically isolated bases persisted in resisting the war under Communist leadership, it has also been widely applied to other historical periods, including the People's Republic era.