Civilizing Chengdu: Chinese Urban Reform, 1895–1937 is a 2000 non-fiction book by Kristin Eileen Stapleton (Chinese name: 司昆仑 Sī Kūnlún), published by Harvard University Press.
The majority of the book covers how the Late Qing reforms and the City Administration Movement, the first from the Qing Dynasty and covering three chapters and the latter of the early Republic of China and covering one chapter, changed Chengdu.[1] These efforts were done to develop a city perceived as backwards.[2]
Hanchao Lu (traditional Chinese: 盧漢超; simplified Chinese: 卢汉超; pinyin: Lú Hànchāo) of the Georgia Institute of Technology stated that this was the first English-language "analytical "biography"" of Chengdu.[3]
Background
editGazeteers, guidebooks, and newspapers from times after 1900 and covering the historical era were used for sourcing. The author used sources stored in the First Historical Archive of China, Second Historical Archive of China, Sichuan's provincial archives, and Chengdu's prefectural archives.[2]
Release
editIn April 2020, the Sichuan Literature and Art Publishing House (Chinese: 四川文艺出版社; pinyin: Sìchuān Wényì Chūbǎnshè) published the Chinese version as "新政之后：警察、军阀与文明进程中的成都 (1895-1937)".[4]
Reception
editRichard Belsky of Hunter College of the City University of New York stated that the work is a "must read" for people interested in the book's subject.[5] He also praised the focus on Chengdu, a city smaller than others often covered in literature.[1]
Alison Dray-Novey of College of Notre Dame (now Notre Dame of Maryland University) argued that the content was "interesting" for people studying the history of urban areas.[2]
Chang-tai Hung stated that the work is "splendid" and that it was "clearly grounded in extensive archival and library research".[6]
See also
edit- Fact in Fiction - Another book by Stapleton
- Nation, Governance, and Modernity in China - A book about Guangzhou which Hanchao Lu describes as a similar sort of book to Civilizing Chengdu.[3]
References
edit- Belsky, Richard. "Book Reviews : Kristin STAPLETON, Civilizing Chengdu: Chinese Urban Reform, 1895-1937. London: Harvard University Press, 2000. 341 pp., with bibliography and index. ISBN: 0-674-00246-6 (hc). Price: £26.50". China Information. 15 (1): 329–331. doi:10.1177/0920203X010150015.
- Dray-Novey, Alison (2002). "Civilizing Chengdu: Chinese Urban Reform, 1895—1937. Harvard University Asia Center. Harvard East Asian Monographs, 186". China Review International. 9 (1): 246–251. doi:10.1353/cri.2003.0036 – via Project MUSE.
- Hung, Chang-tai (2001). "Civilizing Chengdu: Chinese Urban Reform, 1895–1937. By Kristin Stapleton. [Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Asia Center; distributed by Harvard University Press, 2000. xii+341 pp. £26.50. ISBN 0-674-00246-6.]". The China Quarterly. 168: 1007–1009.
- Lu, Hanchao (2001). "Kristin Stapleton. Civilizing Chengdu: Chinese Urban Reform, 1895–1937. (Harvard East Monographs, number 186.). Cambridge: Harvard University Asia Center. 2000. Pp. xii, 341 and Michael Tsin. Nation, Governance, and Modernity in China: Canton, 1900–1927. (Studies of the East Asian Institute, Columbia University.) Stanford: Stanford University Press. 1999. Pp. 276. $45.00". The American Historical Review. 106 (3): 949–950.
Notes
editExternal links
edit- Civilizing Chengdu - Available at the Internet Archive
- Civilizing Chengdu - Available at JSTOR (DOI 10.2307/j.ctt1tg5jrh)
- Civilizing Chengdu - Available at Project MUSE