Books by Chen Jian
“Chen Jian and Arnie Westad are both historians of China who are also very interested in the Cold War and the international situation. They remind us that there was eclectic borrowing going on during the first decades of PRC history that we sometimes forget when we think in terms of East-West polarities, or communist-capitalist dichotomies. Their book looks at what happened after the exhaustion with Mao’s particular utopian interpretation of Marxism-Leninism. What, they ask, came out of the rubble of the early Cultural Revolution? The heroes of their story, in a way, are a combination of ordinary people trying to rebuild their lives, and leaders who were trying to come up with new, mix-and-match ideas to move China forward.” Read more...
Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Historian
Interviews where books by Chen Jian were recommended
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1
Granta 169: China
by Thomas Meaney (editor) -
2
Women and Their Warlords: Domesticating Militarism in Modern China
by Kate Merkel-Hess -
3
Thoughts from the Ice-Drinker's Studio: Essays on China and the World
by Liang Qichao & Peter Zarrow (translator) -
4
The Great Transformation: China's Road from Revolution to Reform
by Chen Jian & Odd Arne Westad -
5
Chop Fry Watch Learn: Fu Pei-mei and the Making of Modern Chinese Food
by Michelle T. King
The Best China Books of 2024, recommended by Jeffrey Wasserstrom
The Best China Books of 2024, recommended by Jeffrey Wasserstrom
From an issue of a literary magazine that brings together contemporary writing from across mainland China to books focusing on different periods of its 20th-century history, it’s been another good year for books about China available to English readers. Jeffrey Wasserstrom, a professor at UC Irvine and specialist in modern Chinese history, talks us through some of his favorite books about China published in 2024.
