About this Book

This is the result of a collaborative effort between scholars from Europe, Asia, and the US. The book argues that the central underlying theme of China's development trajectory in the 20th century is reconstruction or "jianshe", a keyword in 20th-century Chinese political discourse. The impulse to reform and rebuild has erupted on a national scale every several years and includes the May Fourth Movement, the Nanjing decade of 1927-37, the Yan'an reconsolidation and expansion of communism, the Great Leap Forward, the 1980 reforms, the Democracy Movement, and most recently, China's exploding economy. The contributions examine how a range of actors - political leaders, village reformers, government bureaucrats, entrepreneurs, women of child-bearing age, intellectuals, members of ethnic minorities, and local cadres - have reacted to these movements and transitions. They also highlight the importance of the state at the local and central level and discuss the prospects for the continuous search for a national identity balanced between powerful nationalist traditions and manifest cultural diversity.