If you want to understand how China could fall from being the worlds most powerful nation to a third rate power in the 1930's this is the book.

It just provides the documents, you can do your own analysis.

Read official correspondence from the forbidden city to the Queen of England, letters between ministers demonstrating just how poorly the Chinese understood the importance of technology and industrialization.

This book is enlightening.

CHINESE CIVILIZATION AND BUREAUCRACY : Variations on a Theme. By Etienne Balazs. Translated by H. M. Wright. Edited by Arthur F. Wright. 309 pp. New Haven and London : Yale University Press, Sixth Printing 1972 (1964). ISBN 0-300-00013-8 (pbk.)

Arthur F. Wright, in his informative Introduction to this extremely interesting collection of Essays by the Hungarian sinologist Etienne Balazs (1905-1963), tells us that at the time of his death Balazs was a figure of major importance in the international community of Chinese scholars.

Balazs was a very special kind of scholar. His study of the economic history of the T'ang Period (+ 618-906) "remains an astonishing achievement - the Pioneer Western work on Chinese economic history written before this field had begun to be developed by Chinese and Japanese scholars," while the essays collected in the present volume remain essential reading for any student of China.

These essays explore major themes in Chinese history : the role of the scholar official class; the structure of Chinese institutions as they were shaped by these elite bureaucrats and modified as circumstances changed; the distinctive character of Chinese commercial and industrial life; the varieties of protest and dissent, etc. But because Balazs saw the Chinese past, not as mere object of scholarly curiosity, but as "a repository of relevant human experience," his essays have a great deal to teach all of us.

Balazs had seen something that very few wish to see - the staggering importance to us of the longest continuous living civilization on the planet, wealthy with an abundance of cultural treasures, and creator of the most successful and long-lasting bureaucracy in history. We are told that he hoped the isolation of Chinese studies would end, and that "knowledge of the Chinese experience would become accepted as NECESSARY FOR ALL TYPES OF SCHOLARLY INQUIRY" (p.xiii, my capitals).

This is a striking notion, but the rightness of Balazs' position will be blindingly obvious to those who, while knowledgeable about China, have peered into the mist in which Western thought gropes and staggers about in its Cartesian confusion. Few, however, will be prepared to accept, let alone act, on Balazs' premise.

The shift that Balazs wished for could only come about "if Chinese studies became more vigorous, more creative, and more attuned to the major intellectual concerns of the modern world" (p.xiii). Sadly, from his Sorbonne Chair for the economy and society of ancient China, he saw no sign of this happening, and he was highly critical of the preference of sinology for trivial pursuits - "its lack of concern for basic problems of social and cultural history, its penchant for marginalia, which he described as "disquisitions on philological trifles, expensive trips in abstruse provinces, bickering about the restitutions of the names of unknown persons," and the trendy and "immoderate use of academic highbrow jargon"" (p.xiii).

Anyone familiar with Chinese studies will realize the truth of what Balazs was saying, and to his list might be added sinology's current obsession with the restitution of mere puffs of air - long-vanished spoken sounds which could never be recovered with certainty, but whose treatment can be made to look impressively 'scientific' - and its related campaign to devalue the imperishable bronze-cast and stone-cut forms of the Chinese written character.

Sadly, though perhaps predictably, no-one was listening, and academics of all stripes continue to merrily dance their way into an ever-deeper obscurity and irrelevance, concerned only with the approval of a small clique of fellow specialists, while contributing to the society that pays their salaries an ever-increasing flood of superfluous knowledge, and an ever-dwindling quota of truth.

Balazs contribution is very, very different, has a far higher proportion of what might be called 'real content,' and his essays can be studied with profit by anyone, whether specialist or layman. The collection is made up of sixteen essays, divided into three Parts :

PART I : INSTITUTIONS - 1. Significant Aspects of Chinese Society; 2. China as a Permanently Bureaucratic Society; 3. Chinese Feudalism; 4. The Birth of Capitalism in China; 5. Fairs in China; 6. Chinese Towns; 7. Marco Polo in the Capital of China; 8. Evolution of Landownership in Fourth- and Fifth-Century China; 9. Landownership on China from the Fourth to the Fourteenth Century.

PART II : HISTORY - 10. History as a Guide to Bureaucratic Practice; 11. Tradition and Revolution in China.

PART III : THOUGHT - 12. Two Songs by Ts'ao Ts'ao; 13. Political Philosophy and Social Crisis at the End of the Han Dynasty; 14. Nihilistic Thought or Mystical Escapism; 15. The First Chinese Materialist; 16. A Forerunner of Wang An-shih.

Balazs' essays are gems, and have that special ability found only in the very best writing, the ability to provide us with a whole new way of seeing. They create a framework in terms of which much that had little meaning for us before becomes so meaningful as to influence one's whole way of thinking.

One of my favorites is Balazs' 'China as a Permanently Bureaucratic Society,' an essay that helps us, among other things, to see Confucianism and Marxism as, in a sense, twin ideologies, and China's current Communist Party as the traditional Mandarinate decked out in new, and somewhat less attractive, clothes.

But I can't really do justice to Balazs' thought here. My advice would be to get hold of a copy of this book, because it will probably turn out to be one of the most rewarding and valuable books on China that you will ever read. Balazs was one of the last real sinologists, and nothing of this quality is ever likely to happen again.

I wouldn't read this book as an introduction to Chinese history of this period. Fairbank's China: A New History, or several other general histories, are better for that. This book is Fairbank's argument that the development of Chinese history was far less heavily influenced by the West than most historians and Westerners believe. He convincingly puts the major interactions between China and the West in Chinese contexts, noting the similarities between Taipei Rebellion and the White Lotus Rebellion, for instance, although the latter event occurred when Western influence was much less. It's unfortunate that this topic is so politicized. Whether China was heavily or lightly influenced by the West should have no bearing on the inherent moral worth of the Chinese people, although many people on both sides of the debate don't see it that way. Nevertheless, Fairbank's topic is interesting in itself. Ultimately, I didn't find him fully convincing (not that I'm an expert), but I'm glad I read his book.

If there's one book that I could recommend to the general reader on the history of modern China (i.e. from circa 1800-1985), it would be this book.

To be honest, my first impression of this book is not a very good one in the sense that I did not feel like dancing in joy. This is because the book appears to me to be too simple, lacks good facts and not very scholarly. How could Fairbank write such a book? My expectations were very high or to be precise, I have expected the wrong things. This book is not intended to be scholarly, not intended to bog you down with boring details but is intended to be entertaining and at the same time have enough facts to highlight certain important events.

I bought this book only on a second visit to the bookshop and perhaps due to a change of mood, I find the book entertaining and at the same time enlightening in that it proposes different views on events that have not been considered before. For example, the discussion on the port of Hankow was quite enlightening. This is refreshing and after understanding the intentions of the book, my perception and expectations changed and I was able to see it in a new way. Since then, this has been one of my favourite books on modern Chinese history and will become a benchmark for me to measure good historical storytelling.

Compared to Jonathan Spence's "In Search of Modern China" this book appears to me be more entertaining and in a way, more intelligent. Highly recommended.

No decent individual who wants to talk about China, or wants to understand Chinese history in the last 150 years, can skip anything written by Fairbank. If there's anybody who can claim to be 'the' authority on China, Fairbank would be the one. And this work is his crowning glory, culmunating in a tour de force after research in this field for more than half a century. This work sees China's history from the late Qing period till the Post-Mao era as one huge struggle -- for modernity, for survival, for progress. If you are not convinced that China is agreat nation, read this and you'll change your mind, thanks to the late Fairbank.

I agree with the many different comments people have had for this book. It contains a lot of information, its very dull at times, and it does not go into great depth all the time.

The bottom line is that is exactly what this book is. Its a short basic history of China. This is more of a reference book than a specific look at a very specific event.

No, China experts will not be in love with this book. But anyone looking for a survey of Chinese History or looking for a decent desk/bookcase reference book on China will find this book useful.

Specialists in Chinese history and culture will not learn anything from this book. But that's not why it was written. Westerners are very ignorant of Chinese history, and this book is a good introduction to the big themes in China--government and protest, economic development and poverty, the influence of the West, education, and more. For example, the mistrust of China's government of Falun Gong is much more understandable when you know about the earlier religion-based revolutions and civil wars in Chinese history, which I'm sure the President of the United States is not aware of, despite his well-meaning platitudes about freedom of religion. I enjoyed this book greatly and reread portions often.

Most fascinating for me in this history of China was the discussion of the recent economic opening that this huge and populous nation has undertaken. The reasons given for why they have been becoming capitalistic, (in fear of becoming like the USSR and to try to modernize their society) were intriguing. I must admit that I had a long prejudice against Chinese politics, as I considered it a state run by thugs. But after reading this book, I realized the long tradition of Confucian thought, and its effects on governance over the history of China. Also interesting was the role the US had in the Nationalist cause at the turn of the last Century. The tragic situation of women in the society, which was not elaborated on very much, but still fascinating and disturbing was also explored. I also enjoyed the stories of the dynasties, although I still don't have them all straight in my mind. But I did get a feel for why the dynasties rose and fell, and how they interacted with the rest of the world. The rise of the Communist party in China was very interesting, and I am very curious to see where things go now. The civic traditions and endemic corruptions inherent in the social structure could be seen in their interrelated complexities rising over the millennia as governance of this vast and diverse land was figured out. Mostly this book opened my mind to a society and culture I knew little about, and helped me to begin to appreciate it much more. Compared to the ever-present violence and destruction, religious persecution and conflict, and social disruption and seemingly unending tales of power-drunk warlords conniving to divvy up and consume land and influence that I gleaned reading the history of Europe, the history of China seems almost stable and consistent.

I'm reading this book for an lower division undergraduate course in East Asian History. It's better for an upper division course. The book is well indexed, however, there is no bibliography. The only extra is a section that acknowledges the illustrations, which is not very helpful for me. There is a timeline of the dynasties of each country in the back of the book, but it is so tiny it is not helpful. Anyone know of an East Asian wall chart timeline? The topics of each dynasty focus on economics, arts and literature, military, Buddhism and Confucianism, growth and development, declines and failings. East Asian history is interesting. However, there is way too much information in this one book which makes it very difficult to follow, recall, and understand. If instructors choose to use this book, please provide additional optional resources (like a timeline wall chart) because this book does not point the reader to seek other resources. A good book will have a bibliography. Since this book does not, I conclude the authors think this is the only book one needs to read, which it is not.

I remember buying this textbook back in the '80's for a course at Harvard taught by the professors themselves. Back then, the book cost [money]. I can't believe they now want over [money]for it. That's insane. Sure, it's full of factual information, but it's hardly unique information -- these are historical facts available anywhere, with very little opinion or perspective or even personality woven in. (Indeed, the book is as dry as the Gobi Desert.) Furthermore, they first wrote this book back in 1975. Updating it could not have required that much labor, particularly since Harvard already pays these profs to do nothing but talk about Asia. Professors are getting away with extortion knowing they have a captive audience (students) required to buy their textbook. Yes, it's a good textbook. Is it worth over [money]? Not for a Chinese minute. Here's hoping that they're donating their royalties to North Korean famine relief.

This is a fine book, one I have assigned for years in my introductory classes along with de Bary's Sources of Chinese Tradition Vol. 1. Now, however, there is a new edition of Sources using the newer pinyin romanization system. Reischauer still uses the old Wade-Giles system. So I can't assign it any longer - I can't expect my students to have the two basic books in the course use different romanizations. Could not Houghton-Mifflin redo Reischauer using pinyin? It could be done with no effort by using a simple replace function on a computer.