This comprehensive but concise narrative of China since the eighteenth century builds its story around the delicate relationship between central government and local communities.

• Rejects the traditional view of China as a wholly harmonious society based on principles of stability - the Unwobbling Pivot of Ezra Pound's translation of the Chinese classic Zhongyong
• Provides an original interpretation, arguing that developments can be explained through an understanding of China's surprising swings between centralization and decentralization, between local initiative and central authoritarianism
• Serves as an introduction to the subject, while readers with a background in Chinese history will find the book offers a personal perspective and addresses long-standing interpretive issues
• Supported by a variety of timelines, maps, illustrations, and extensive notes for further reading
• Places China's history within the context of global change

About the Author
Pamela Kyle Crossley is Professor of Inner Asian, East Asian Intellectual and Chinese History at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire. Her publications include The Manchus (Blackwell, 1997); A Translucent Mirror: History and Identity in Qing Ideology (1999); and What is Global History? (2008). She is a past Guggenheim Fellow and was awarded the Levenson Prize from the Association for Asian Studies in 2001.

Reviews

"Finding a fresh angle to a familiar story is a challenge, one that this book has dealt with creatively and convincingly." (English Historical Review, 1 June 2014

"As a textbook, The Wobbling Pivot is accessible, complete and readable, and as a synthesis of twentieth century Chinese history, it is both original and provocative, and a valuable introduction to the perennial issues that China poses in the undergraduate classroom." (The China Quarterly, 1 September 2012)

"[A] lively survey ... .It sheds considerable light on contemporary Chinese dilemmas." (Shanghaiist, December 2010)



Book Information
ISBN 9781405160803
Author Pamela Kyle Crossley
Format Paperback
Page Count 336
Imprint Wiley-Blackwell
Publisher John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Weight(grams) 581g
Dimensions(mm) 249mm * 173mm * 18mm