The sunrise court: imperial audiences, court communications, and political decisions during the late Qing

Abstract

Relationship between the Uprising of the Independent Army and Secret Societies” (Lun zilijun qiyi yu huidang de guanxi), Luo Rongqu’s “China’s Delayed Modernization in the Early Days: A Comparative Study of Modernization” (Zhongguo zaoqi xiandaihua de yanwu: Yixiang bijiao xiandaihua yanjiu), and Gong Shuduo’s “A Discussion of Western Learning in the Late Qing Period” (Wan-Qing xixue yueyi) demonstrate the restoration and development of modern Chinese history studies since the reform and opening-up and the contributions made by Chinese scholars to this field of study. The articles in each volume reflect the academic foci and growth points in the various short periods. The first volume’s selections, for example, reflect the characteristics that typified the restoration and reconstruction of historiography from 1979–1990: its articles were written from macroscopic perspectives and were open to reaction and discussion. In the second volume, beginning 1991, we see a breakthrough in cultural history studies that are relatively microscopic – topics such as modern Chinese advertising, lotteries, media, intellectual groups, and footbinding. We see increasing developments in these studies in the third volume. Finally, it should be noted that renowned foreign scholars, such as Kiyoshi Inoue, Marianne BastidBruguière, Naoki Hazama, and Arif Dirlik, have published articles in Modern Chinese History Studies. This indicates an open aspect of the journal. Forty years is not terribly long, but they have witnessed large twists and turns in research, publishing, and Chinese society – a historical phenomenon itself. The collection constitutes a sort of academic history. The works of the representative scholars have recorded how the study of modern Chinese history developed during the 40 years, and from changes in style and format we see how the norm of historical research developed. The changes of topics and foci in the studies conducted by successive generations have brought fresh approaches to modern history studies and indicate future growth in this field.