The Cambridge History of China: Late Ch'ing 1800-1911. by Fairbank, John K. (editor) / Liu, Kwang-Ching (editor) - 1986

1986. Taipei / Cambridge, Caves Books / Cambridge University Press, 1986. 16 cm x 24 cm. XIV, 713 / XX, 754 pages. Original Hardcover with original dustjacket in protective Mylar. 2 Volumes (complete). Excellent condition with minor signs of external wear. Spotting on volume 10 endpapers and page-edges. [The Cambridge History of China. Volume 10 and 11]. Includes for example the following essays: The Ch'ing empire in Inner Asia / Dynastic decline and the roots of rebellion / The Canon trade and the Opium War / The Taiping Rebellion / The Ch'ing Restoration / Self-strengthening: the pursuit of Western technology / Late Ch'ing foreign relations, 1866-1905 / Changin Chinese views of Western relations, 1840 - 95 / Intellectual change and the reform movement, 1890-8 / Japan and the Chinese Revolution of 1911 / The republican revolutionary movement / Currents of social change etc. "[Volume 10] opens with a survey of the Ch'ing empire in China and Inner Asia at its height, in about 1800. Contributors study the complex interplay of foreign invasion, domestic rebellion and Ch'ing decline and restoration. Special reference is made to the Peking administration, the Canton trade and the early treaty system, the Taiping, Nien and other rebellions, and the dynasty's survival in uneasy cooperation with the British, Russian, French, American and other invaders. Each chapter is written by a specialist from the international community of sinological scholars. No knowledge of Chinese is necessary; for readers with Chinese, proper names and terms are identified with their characters in the glossary, and full references to Chinese, Japanese and other works are given in the bibliographies. Numerous maps illustrate the text, and there are a bibliographical essays describing the source materials on which each author's account is based... [Volume 11] surveys the persistence and deterioration of the old order in China during the late nineteenth century, and the profound stirring during that period, which led to China's great twentieth-century revolution. The contributors focus on commercial and technological growth, foreign relations, the stimulation of Chinese intellectual life by the outside world, and military triumphs and disasters. They show that the effects of the accelerating changes were to fragment the old ruling class and the ancient monarchy, finally bringing the Chinese people face to face with the challenges of the new century. For readers with Chinese, proper names and terms are identified with their characters in the glossary, and full references to Chinese, Japanese and other works are given in the bibliographies." (Amazon)