Synopses & Reviews
Over the course of the twentieth century, the Guomindang (the KMT or Nationalists) articulated and marketed symbols, traits, and institutions crucial to a modernizing China. Understood as constituents of modernity, tangible elements (paper money, flags, national anthems), specific institutions (educational, governmental, and scientific facilities), and intangible qualities (nationalism, social trust, social discipline) all drew the attention and advocacy of Party members.
This volume offers a reappraisal of Guomindang history based on a close analysis of cultural, ideational, and symbolic practices rather than the more common social, political, and economic frames. Chapters on education policies and practices, Party relations with Chinese Christian and missionary communities, the use of paper currency, political propaganda, and the construction of scientific institutions all provide fresh points of comparison with Chinese Communist ideas, practices, and dilemmas. The essays here highlight the complexities and range of creative possibilities confronting a nation-state bent upon the "modernizing" mission.
Terry Bodenhorn is Assistant Professor of History, University of Illinois, Springfield.
Synopsis
Over the course of the twentieth century, the Guomindang, also known as the KMT or Nationalist Party, articulated and marketed symbols, traits, and institutions crucial to a modernizing China. These included tangible elements (paper money, flags, national anthems), specific institutions (educational, governmental, and scientific facilities), and intangible qualities (nationalism, social trust, social discipline). Understood as the constituents of modernity, all these elements drew the attention and advocacy of Party members.Defining Modernity offers a reappraisal of Guomindang history based on a close analysis of cultural, ideational, and symbolic practices rather than the more common social, political, and economic frames. Chapters on education policies and practices, Nationalist Party relations with Chinese Christian and missionary communities, the use of paper currency, political propaganda, and the construction of scientific institutions all provide fresh points of comparison with Chinese Communist ideas, practices, and dilemmas. The essays here highlight the complexities and range of creative possibilities confronting a nation-state bent upon the "modernizing" mission.
Synopsis
Employs a close analysis of cultural, ideational, and symbolic practices in a reappraisal of Guomindang history.
Table of Contents
"Dual prong" revolution : Guomindang use of agitation and accommodation against missionary education during the mid 1920s / Michael G. Murdock -- Setting the sheet of loose sand: conceptions of society and citizenship in Nanjing decade party doctrine and civics textbooks / Robert Culp -- Chen Lifu's vitalism: a Guomingdang vision of modernity circa 1934 / Terry Bodenhorn -- Viewing currency chaos: paper money for advertising, ideology, and resistance in Republican China / Beth E. Notar -- Civilizing the masses: the productive power of cultural reform efforts in late republican-era Fujian / Sara L. Friedman -- Strategies of Guomingdang institution building: rhetoric and implementation in wartime Xunlian / Julia C. Strauss -- GMD rhetoric of science and modernity (1927-70): a neo-traditional scientism? / J. Megan Greene -- Conclusion / John Fitzgerald.