Restless Empire: China and the World Since 1750 PDF
Preview Restless Empire: China and the World Since 1750
RESTLESS EMPIRE ALSO BY Odd Arne Westad The Global Cold War Decisive Encounters Brothers in Arms Cold War and Revolution RESTLESS EMPIRE CHINA AND THE WORLD SINCE 1750 ODD ARNE WESTAD BASIC BOOKS A Member of the Perseus Books Group New York Copyright © 2012 by Odd Arne Westad Published by Basic Books, A Member of the Perseus Books Group All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, address Basic Books, 387 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016-8810. Books published by Basic Books are available at special discounts for bulk purchases in the United States by corporations, institutions, and other organizations. For more information, please contact the Special Markets Department at the Perseus Books Group, 2300 Chestnut Street, Suite 200, Philadelphia, PA 19103, or call (800) 810-4145, ext. 5000, or e-mail [email protected]. Typeset in Bembo Std by the Perseus Books Group Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Westad, Odd Arne. Restless empire : China and the world since 1750 / Odd Arne Westad. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-465-02936-5 (e-book) 1. China—Foreign relations—1644—1912. 2. China—Foreign relations—1912–1949. 3. China—Foreign relations—1949– I. Title. DS754.18W47 2012 327.51—dc23 2012021635 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 For Michael and Paula Hunt CONTENTS A Note on Chinese Pronunciation Empire 1 Metamorphosis 2 Imperialisms 3 Japan 4 Republic 5 Foreigners 6 Abroad 7 War 8 Communism 9 China Alone 10 China’s America 11 China’s Asia Modernities Suggestions for Further Reading Acknowledgments Notes Index A NOTE ON CHINESE PRONUNCIATION CHINESE IS WRITTEN IN IDEOGRAPHIC CHARACTERS, not letters as most Indo-European languages are. The pronunciation of these characters differs greatly among people in China, not to mention with Koreans and Japanese, who also in part use them. The character , for instance, meaning “river,” is pronounced something like djiang in the north, kiang in central China, kang in Fujian, and gong in Cantonese. This book uses the system of transliteration from Chinese known as hanyu pinyin (Chinese phonetics). The only exceptions are personal names well known in English in other transliterations, such as Chiang Kai-shek (who would be Jiang Jieshi in pinyin) or Sun Yat-sen. Developed by linguists working in Moscow in the 1930s, pinyin has become standard in the People’s Republic of China and increasingly elsewhere, replacing earlier systems. It is based on how people speak in north China. In most cases the intuitive pronunciation of an English speaker comes close to imitating the sound as intended in pinyin. But in a few cases it is more difficult. Q is generally pronounced “ch,” x is “sh,” zh is “j” (as in Joe), and c is “ts.” Deng Xiaoping’s given name (Xiaoping) is therefore pronounced something like Shaoping. The city Chongqing is Chongching. Zhou Enlai’s surname (Zhou) is Joe. And Cixi, the empress dowager, is Tseshi. Accurate pronunciation is of course a bit more difficult than that. All Chinese characters are tonal as well, but no need to worry about that unless you want to study the language.
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