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Through the individual characteristics of China's political leaders, a nation-building process began. Chinese leaders fell into two categories of reformers: conservative and liberal. Conservative reformers saw a corruption of the moral order of society that needed to be eliminated in order to restore the country's moral integrity, while liberal reformers attempted to embrace the flaws and lead China toward Socialism. One hundred Chinese leaders-from the Opium War to 2001-are profiled in this comprehensive biographical dictionary.
This book provides the most up-to-date coverage of modern Chinese political leadership during the Imperial, Republican, and Communist periods. Political leaders throughout each period had a common desire for reform within the country while maintaining China's political and cultural legacy. Leung invokes the uniqueness of those leaders in their struggle for personal gain and national improvement as they fought to preserve traditional values. Written by 30 international scholars and experts in the field using both Western and Chinese sources, this is the most authoritative dictionary on the subject.
List of contents
Preface
Introduction
Political Leaders of Modern ChinaAppendix 1: Chronology
Appendix 2: Modern Chinese Political Leaders
Bibliography
Index
About the author
EDWIN PAK-WAH LEUNG is Professor of Asian Studies and Director of the Asian Studies Graduate Program at Seton Hall University. He has published over ten books, including Historical Dictionary of Revolutionary China, 1839-1976 (Greenwood, 1992) and Historical Dictionary of the Chinese Civil War (2001).
Summary
Through the individual characteristics of China's political leaders, a nation-building process began. Conservative reformers saw a corruption of the moral order of society that needed to be eliminated in order to restore the country's moral integrity, while liberal reformers attempted to embrace the flaws and lead China toward Socialism.
