"To change China" was the goal of foreign missionaries, soldiers, doctors, teachers, engineers, and revolutionaries for more than three hundred years. But the Chinese, while eagerly accepting Western technical advice, clung steadfastly to their own religious and cultural traditions. As a new era of relations between China and the United States begins, the tales in this volume will serve as cautionary histories for businessmen, diplomats, students, or any other foreigners who foolishly believe that they can transform this vast, enigmatic country.

In this Second Edition of his widely acclaimed history of modern China, Jonathan Spence achieves a fine blend of narrative richness and efficiency. The text is tighter throughout and up-to-date on the most important scholarship in the field. The new discussions in this thorough revision include the extension of imperial power into central Asia by the eighteenth-century emperors, women's literacy and education in the Qing, the early development of Chinese nationalism, the roots of Chinese communism and alternatives to Mao, the early stages of the Great Leap Forward and of the Cultural Revolution. There is a new chapter at the end of the book on economic, cultural, and political developments since 1989. Praised as "a miracle of readability and scholarly authority," (Jonathan Mirsky) The Search for Modern China offers students a matchless introduction to China's history. 点击链接进入中文版： 追寻现代中国:1600-1912年的中国历史