Overview

The Sage Handbook of Interpreting Chinese History offers an in-depth exploration of the evolution of historical narratives in China over the past century. Bringing together some of the world’s leading scholars, this handbook provides both depth and breadth to our understanding of how Chinese leaders, intellectuals, and the public conceive of their place in the world. It examines the dramatic shifts in historical interpretation, documenting both the creative use and disastrous abuse of the Chinese past.   China′s growing global influence has led to increased interest in its historical perspectives. Understanding contemporary Chinese conceptions of international politics and intercultural relations requires a deep dive into how history is interpreted and taught in China. This handbook aims to ""look under the hood"" at the motivations and methods behind historical storytelling, the role of historical knowledge in social and political stability, and the deployment of key terms and images in politics and social life.   The handbook is organized into several key sections. The first section provides an overview of key ideas such as the ""tributary system"" and constitutionalism, alongside critical analyses of intellectual history and Sino-foreign relations. The subsequent sections delve into how history was written and historical narratives disseminated and deployed in four different eras of modern Chinese history: the late-Qing period, the Republican era, the Maoist era, and the Reform era. Each era is examined through the lens of official and popular history, exploring the relationship between history and memory. The final section introduces perspectives on historical narratives from Chinese border regions, as well as Sinophone narratives produced outside the PRC state system, highlighting the diversity of views on Chinese history.   The Sage Handbook of Interpreting Chinese History is an essential resource for scholars, practitioners, and students seeking to understand the complexities of historical interpretation in modern China. It provides a comprehensive and nuanced exploration of the field, equipping readers to engage with the theoretical and practical aspects of Chinese historical narratives.   Part I: Overviews and Framing Chapters Part II: History in the Late-Qing Era Part III: History in the Republican Era Part IV: History in the Maoist Era Part V: History in the Reform Era Part VI: Border Histories

Full Product Details

Author:   Kristin Stapleton ,  Xin Fan ,  Els van Dongen
Publisher:   SAGE Publications Ltd
Imprint:   SAGE Publications Ltd
Weight:   1.210kg
ISBN:  

9781529623222

ISBN 10:   1529623227
Pages:   600
Publication Date:   27 January 2026
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming
Availability:   Not yet available  
This item is yet to be released. You can pre-order this item and we will dispatch it to you upon its release.

Table of Contents

Introduction - Kristin Stapleton, Els Van Dongen, Xin Fan Part I. Overviews and Framing Chapters Chapter 1. The Daotong, Genealogy, and History: On the Sources of Chinese Intellectual History’s Narrative Framework - GE Zhaoguang Chapter 2. Conceptualizing the Foreign Relations of Late Imperial China: The Interpretative Entanglement of Two Worldviews, 1880s–2020s - Yuanchong Wang Chapter 3. The Politics of Constructing the History of China’s Foreign Relations in the PRC - Tansen Sen Chapter 4. Visions of History in Chinese Constitutional Law - Egas Bernard Bender De Moniz Bandeira Chapter 5. Corporeality and Conceptions of History: How Gender Changed the Experience of the Past and Present - Louise Edwards Chapter 6. Historical Imaginations of High Qing Emperors in Sinophone Popular Cultures - Fei-Hsien Wang Part II. History in the Late-Qing Era Chapter 7. Chinese Historical Thinking and Civil Service Examinations in the Late 19th Century - Thomas H. C. Lee Chapter 8. “Official Periodicals” (Gazetteers, Gazettes, and Directories) and Qing History - Emily Mokros Chapter 9. Publishing and Communication in Late Qing China - Natascha Gentz Chapter 10. Memorials and Works of Commemoration in the Late Qing Period - Charles Desnoyers Chapter 11. History in Late-Qing Popular Culture - Igor Chabrowski Part III. History in the Republican Era Chapter 12. The Development of the History Profession and its Relation to the State - Xin Fan Chapter 13. History Textbooks and Historical Education in Republican China - Jenny Huangfu Day Chapter 14. The Hope and Fear in Joining the Modern World: Changing Frameworks of Historical Analysis in Late Qing and Republican China - Tzeki Hon Chapter 15. Displaying History: Constructing National Heritage in Modern China - Peter Zarrow Chapter 16. Memorials and Commemorative Structures in the Republican Era - Linh Vu Chapter 17. National Humiliation and National Pride: History in Popular Culture during the Republican Period - Yajun Mo Part IV. History in the Maoist Era Chapter 18. Changing Frameworks of Historical Analysis - Huaiyu Chen Chapter 19. Textbooks and History Education in the Maoist Era (1942-1978) - Marc Andre Matten Chapter 20. Ethnography as History—Chinese Ethnologists and the Construction of the Marxist Periodization Scheme of Chinese History - Xiaorong Han Chapter 21. Radical Pasts, Maoist Futures: History in the Cultural Revolution - Zachary Scarlett Chapter 22. Accusations and Confessions in Case Files - Man Zhang Part V. History in the Reform Era Chapter 23. Chinese Historiography during the Era of Reform and Opening - Susanne Weigelin-Schwiedrzik Chapter 24 Rethinking China’s Past after China’s Rise: Chinese Intellectuals and Modern China - David Ownby Chapter 25. Using the Past to Serve the Present - The Role of History in Post-Mao Chinese Nationalism - Robert Weatherley Chapter 26. Museums and the Making of Public History in Post-Mao China: Reimagining the Chinese nation in the Overseas Chinese Museum - Cangbai Wang Chapter 27. Narrating History in Reform Era Chinese Cinema - Yiyang Hou Part VI. Border Histories Chapter 28: From China’s Frontier to Frontier China - Xiaoyuan Liu Chapter 29: “Rediscovering” 2-28: Knowledge Production, Memorialization, and the Emergence of Taiwanese Nationalism - Evan Dawley Chapter 30: Historical Memory in Hong Kong: Agency under the shadow of empires - Gina Anne Tam Chapter 31: “History in Xinjiang: The Changing Nature and Resiliency of Historical Practices from the late Qing to the Present - Sandrine Catris Chapter 32: Popular Historical Narratives of Overseas Migration - Steven B. Miles

Reviews

History in modern China is not only a mirror to contemporary culture, politics, and society.  In the chapters of this Sage Handbook, it also serves as a prism through which we view China’s understanding of itself and the world, its experience in revolution and reform, and the depth and diversity of its narratives over time.  Representing the world’s leading experts and covering a wide range of topics—including official and unofficial texts and sources—these essays will be an indispensable guide for every student and scholar of China.       -- Denise Y. Ho

History in modern China is not only a mirror to contemporary culture, politics, and society.  In the chapters of this Sage Handbook, it also serves as a prism through which we view China’s understanding of itself and the world, its experience in revolution and reform, and the depth and diversity of its narratives over time.  Representing the world’s leading experts and covering a wide range of topics—including official and unofficial texts and sources—these essays will be an indispensable guide for every student and scholar of China. -- Denise Y. Ho The Sage Handbook of Interpreting Chinese History offers a fresh and insightful exploration of how history-writing has been continually reshaped within China’s shifting political landscapes. By interweaving official narratives, popular culture, and gendered perspectives, the volume illuminates the dynamic interplay between memory, identity, and power. Its innovative focus on how cultural forms and everyday practices inform historical interpretation makes it essential reading for understanding both the resilience and reinvention of historical consciousness in modern China. It is an ambitious and timely contribution that situates historiography at the intersection of politics and culture. -- Q. Edward Wang

Author Information

Kristin Stapleton is a Professor of History at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York. Her research focuses on urban history, particularly the history of governance and social change, as well as the creation and influence of representations of historical events in works of literature. She is the author of Civilizing Chengdu: Chinese Urban Reform, 1895-1937 (Harvard Asia Center, 2000), Fact in Fiction: 1920s China and Ba Jin’s Family (Stanford, 2016), and The Modern City in Asia (Cambridge, 2022), among other works. She is a member of the Editorial Board of Twentieth-Century China and a participant in the Global Urban History Project. Xin Fan teaches at ShanghaiTech University in China. He is a professor of history and vice dean at the Institute of Humanities. He is the author of World History and National Identity in China: The Twentieth Century (CUP, 2021), of Global History in China (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024), and the second editor of Receptions of Greek and Roman Antiquity in East Asia (Brill, 2018). Els van Dongen is an Associate Professor of History at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Driven by her interest in how the transnational movement of people, ideas, and institutions has informed the making of modern China, her main areas of research are Chinese intellectual history and the history of Chinese migration. She is the author of Realistic Revolution: Contesting Chinese History, Culture, and Politics after 1989 (Cambridge, 2019) and has held visiting positions at Boston University, Peking University, the Academia Sinica, and the University of California, Berkeley. Her current book project examines the “return” of ethnic Chinese students from Southeast Asia to the PRC during the 1950s and 1960s.

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Countries Available

All regions