新刊：《中國歷史評論》第29卷第1期

James Z. Gao, 1948-2021: from a Son of Hangzhou to an Explorer of a Cutting-Edge Paradigm

Zhiguo Yang

This article is a tribute to James Z. Gao, a founding member of CHUS and the organization's first president (1987-1988), who passed away in 2021. It traces his life, education, and teaching career in China and the United States in the context of China's social and economic changes during his lifetime. It also describes his success as a history educator in the United States, focusing on the pedagogy and teaching methodologies that Gao applied to making his history courses meaningful and inspiring to his students. Gao devoted his academic career to searching for a paradigm to better explain the role of modernization and revolution in the transformation of China in the twentieth century, and the third part of the article illustrates such a commitment and his scholarly achievement.

Synthetic Fiber in Maoist China: Industry, Consumption and Daily Wearing Under Socialism

Tianxiao Zhu

When describing everyday life in Maoist China, there has been much attention on the state power that had a great impact on what people were wearing in a socialist state. This article explores the history of synthetic fibers in Maoist China to discuss how consumer behavior had an influence on the development of the textile industry. This article analyzes the growing popularity of a cotton-polyester blend fabric called diqueliang in the 1960–70s, and highlights technology development and a sense of novelty attached to the acceptance of a new fabric. This article argues that the everyday life in Maoist China was not entirely dominated by the state; rather, the society made its choices based on their living conditions, which also shaped life in the socialist state.

The Battle of Shanghai: How China Lost its Defense to Japan

Payce Whiteman

This article on the Second Battle of Shanghai explains what caused a Chinese defeat in the face of Imperial Japan in 1937. The study of the battle is to examine how it is the Chinese lost while having greater manpower, the advantage of defense, and the backing of most of the West. The battle at Shanghai would unfold in front of the Shanghai International Settlement, allowing Western powers to witness the conflict unfold in front of their cameras and reporters. Despite this, this battle is mostly overlooked by most Western studies of the Second World War. This study examines how the lack of unity, poor leadership, inferior arms, and the lack of a long-term defensive plan undercut any advantages the Chinese held over the Japanese. This battle is the first major clash during the Second Sino-Japanese War, and arguably the first major battle of the Second World War.

Book Reviews

Anecdote, Network, Gossip, Performance: Essays on the Shishuo Xinyu

Jack W. Chen, Massachusetts and London: Harvard University Press, 2021. 278 pp, 7 illustrations, $60 (hardcover). ISBN 9780674251175

Xiaoxiao Li

What the Emperor Built: Architecture and Empire in the Early Ming

Aurelia Campbell. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2020. 240 pp, 58 color illus., 48 b&w illus., 3 maps. Hardcover, $65, ISBN 9780295746883

Aaron Molnar

《胡適的頓挫——自由與威權衝撞下的政治抉擇》 (Hu Shi's Frustration: The Political Choice Between Freedom and Authority)

HUANG KO-WU 黄克武. Taipei:Taiwan Commercial Press, 2021. 440pp.NT480,ISBN9789570533354

Guo Wu

Chinese Ways of Seeing and Open-Air painting

Yi Gu, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 2020. 317 pp, $75.00, ISBN 9780674244443 (hard cover)

Xiaoxiao Li

Mao’s Bestiary: Medicinal Animals and Modern China

Liz P. Y. Chee, Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2021. 276 pp. $26.95 Paper. ISBN 9781478014041

Huaiyu Chen

编辑委员会

The Editors:

Hanchao Lu (Editor-in-Chief), Georgia Institute of Technology

Alan Baumler (Editor), Indiana University of Pennsylvania

LaDonna Bowen (Editorial Assistant), Georgia Institute of Technology

Editorial Board:

Morris L. Bian, Auburn University, USA

Jian Chen, Cornell University, USA

Benjamin A. Elman, Princeton University, USA

Madeline Yue Dong, University of Washington at Seattle, USA

Joshua Goldstein, University of South Carolina, USA

Christopher Isett, University of Minnesota, USA

Steven Levine, University of North Carolina Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA

Chang Liu, Fudan University, China

Rana Mitter, Oxford University, UK

Meing-te Pan, State University of New York at Oswego, USA

Elizabeth Perry, Harvard University, USA

Paul G. Pickowicz, University of California at San Diego, USA

Yurl Pines, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

Ruth Rogask, Vanderbilt University, USA

Qin Shao, The College of New Jersey, USA

Richard J. Smith, Rice University, USA

Jonathan D. Spence, Yale University, USA

Stephen Uhalley, California University at San Francisco, USA

Joanna Waley-Cohen, New York University, USA

Gungwu Wang, National University of Singapore, Singapore

Xi Wang, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, USA

Victor C. Xiong, Western Michigan University, USA

Yuezhi Xiong, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, China

Guoqi Xu, University of Hong Kong, China

Ping Yao, California State University at Los Angeles, USA

Qiang Zhai, Auburn University at Montgomery, USA