Fu Ssu-nien: A Life in Chinese History and Politics

by Fan-sen Wang

Overview

Fu Ssu-nien, a scholar, activist, and social critic, was one of the most influential intellectual figures in twentieth-century China. This biography offers the first in-depth examination of his role in intellectual and educational development in modern China. Wang Fan-sen follows Fu's early career as a student activist, his efforts to establish a "modern" historical discipline in China, and his legacy as a founder of modern academe in China. This book, incorporating unpublished material from Fu's personal archives, fills a major gap in the cultural and intellectual history of modern China.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521030472
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	11/02/2006
Series:	Cambridge Studies in Chinese History, Literature and Institutions
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.06(h) x 0.63(d)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments; List of abbreviations; Chronology; Introduction: Fu Ssu-nien and post-1895 intellectual trends; 1. Fu Ssu-nien's early years; 2. The shaping of a new historical school; 3. Toward a theory of plural origins of Chinese civilization: hypotheses on ancient Chinese history; 4. Contra-introspective moral philosophy; 5. The burden of the May Fourth mentality; 6. Statism and the later days of a May Fourth youth; Conclusion: the defeat of a May Fourth youth; Appendix 1: a fragment from a short story attacking Ku Chieh-kang; Appendix 2: a transcript of a conversation between Fu Ssu-nien and Ch'en Pu-lei; Glossary; Bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"this eminently readable book deserves the attention of all those interested in modern Chinese culture and intellectual history." American Historical Review Feb 2002

"The book addresses a very important period in the transformation of modern Chinese historical thinking...This book rests on superior scholarship and an exhaustive study of all the available published and unpublished sources, including archives and private papers. It provides a lively and sympathetic portrait of Fu Sinian and his times, and through this adds an important new dimension to the intellectual history of the May Fourth era and of prewar and wartime China under the Nationalists." The China Journal

From the Publisher