Joseph W. Esherick

Reconsidering 1911: Lessons of a sudden revolution

The year 1911 launched China on a century of revolution and ended one of the most successful dynasties in Chinese history, the Qing. The New Policy reforms of the late Qing were remarkably successful in transforming China into a modern state. They failed only at the end, because of the ill-advised power-centralizing policies of the regent Zaifeng. Zaifengs policies focused opposition on the Manchu ruling family and created the conditions for a sudden revolution in 1911. Understanding the 1911 Revolution requires more focus on the revolutionary milieu of 1911 that brought China to its tipping point. As a sudden revolution, China in 1911 is more similar to France in 1789, Russia in 1917, or Egypt in 2011 than it is to the subsequent revolutions of the Nationalist and Communist parties. Our analysis requires more attention to all the political forces that allied to overturn Manchu rule but could not maintain that unity to establish effective republican institutions.

Mao and the Cultural Revolution in China: Perspectives on Mao's Last Revolution

This forum includes five commentaries focusing on a much-acclaimed book by Roderick MacFarquhar and Michael Schoenhals, Maos Last Revolution, published by Harvard University Press. The book provides a meticulous account of the Cultural Revolution in China, from 1966 to 1976. MacFarquhar and Schoenhals assess the roles of Mao Zedong and other senior Chinese officials and discuss what was happening in all regions of China during this period of terror and upheaval. Five leading experts on Chinese politics and society discuss the books many strengths but also raise questions about some specific interpretations and omissions. The forum includes a reply by MacFarquhar and Schoenhals to the commentaries.

Book Reviews : Suzanne PEPPER, Civil War in China: The Political Struggle, 1945-1949. Second edition. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 1999. 508 pp., with biblio graphy and index. ISBN: 0-8476-9133-0 (hc), 0-8476-9134-9 (pbk). Price: £50.00 (hc), £21.95 (pbk)

and bibliography. The text itself is unrevised, but few books in the field have survived the test of time as well as this one. A Journal of Asian Studie.s review praised the first edition as the &dquo;definitive account&dquo; of the political conflicts of 1945-49, and no book has appeared since to challenge that status,.211 For any who have not read the 1978 version, the organization of the book is simple and direct. Part 1 deals with the progressive withdrawal of support from the Guomindang (GMD), focusing on the urban areas. The GMD’s return to the coastal cities in 1945~6 is described and analyzed as a squandered opportunity, where the corruption of carpet-bagging officials and questionable deals with wartime collaborators quickly eroded the support which Chiang Kai-shek’s govern-