John King Fairbank (1907–1991)
Forfatter af China: A New History
Om forfatteren
Born in South Dakota, John King Fairbank attended local public schools for his early education. From there he went on first to Exeter, then the University of Wisconsin, and ultimately to Harvard, from which he received his B.A. degree summa cum laude in 1929. That year he traveled to Britain as a vis mere Rhodes Scholar. In 1932 he went to China as a teacher and after extensive travel there received his Ph.D. from Oxford University in 1936. Between 1941 and 1946, he was in government service---as a member of the Office of Strategic Services, as special assistant to the U.S. ambassador to China, and finally as director of the U.S. Information Service in China. Excepting those years, beginning in 1936, Fairbank spent his entire career at Harvard University, where he served in many positions, including Francis Lee Higginson Professor of History and director of Harvard's East Asian Research Center. Fairbank, who came to be considered one of the world's foremost authorities on modern Chinese history and Asian-West relations, was committed to reestablishing diplomatic and cultural relations with China. He was also committed to the idea that Americans had to become more conversant with Asian cultures and languages. In his leadership positions at Harvard and as president of the Association for Asian Studies and the American Historical Association, he sought to broaden the bases of expertise about Asia. At the same time, he wrote fluidly and accessibly, concentrating his work on the nineteenth century and emphasizing the relationship between China and the West. At the same time, his writings placed twentieth-century China within the context of a changed and changing global order. It was precisely this understanding that led him to emphasize the reestablishment of American links with China. More than anyone else, Fairbank helped create the modern fields of Chinese and Asian studies in America. His influence on American understanding of China and Asia has been profound. (Bowker Author Biography) vis mindre
Image credit: Rick Stafford
Værker af John King Fairbank
Trade and Diplomacy on the China Coast: The Opening of the Treaty Ports, 1842-1854 (1953) 29 eksemplarer
The Missionary Enterprise in China and America (Harvard Studies in American-East Asian Relations) (1974) — Redaktør — 5 eksemplarer
1967 CHINA AND THE USA MIDDLE KINGDOM BY JOHN K. FAIRBANKS HARVARD U. PRESS DJ [Hardcover] JOHN K. FAIRBANK 1 eksemplar
east asia tradition and transformation 1 eksemplar
History of East Asia 1 eksemplar
New views of China's tradition and modernization 1 eksemplar
Chʻing administration; three studies 1 eksemplar
The United States & China -- Revised Edition 1 eksemplar
2: Verso la modernità 1 eksemplar
Associated Works
The New Illustrated Encyclopedia of World History (1940) — Bidragyder, nogle udgaver — 668 eksemplarer
Communist China: Revolutionary Reconstruction and International Confrontation 1949 to the Present (1967) — Bidragyder — 88 eksemplarer
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- Andre navne
- 費正清
Fèi Zhèngqīng - Fødselsdato
- 1907-05-24
- Dødsdag
- 1991-09-14
- Køn
- male
- Nationalitet
- USA
- Fødested
- Huron, South Dakota, USA
- Dødssted
- Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
- Bopæl
- South Dakota, USA
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
China
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
Oxford, England, UK
Exeter, New Hampshire, USA - Uddannelse
- University of Wisconsin, Madison
Harvard College (AB, summa cum laude|History|1929)
University of Oxford (Balliol College ∙ DPhil)
Tsinghua University
Philips Exeter Academy - Erhverv
- historian
university professor - Relationer
- Webster, Charles Kingsley (teacher)
Schell, Orville (student)
Fairbank, Wilma (wife) - Organisationer
- U.S. Office of Strategic Services
U.S. Office of War Information
Harvard University
American Historical Association - Priser og hædersbevisninger
- Rhodes Scholar
Medlemmer
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Statistikker
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- Also by
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- Medlemmer
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- Popularitet
- #12,938
- Vurdering
- 4.1
- Anmeldelser
- 24
- ISBN
- 122
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- 1
Covering a 4000-year-old civilization in a total of 455 pages of text, of which only 405 were written by Fairbanks, is a daunting history however Fairbanks quickly develops the threads and themes he will follow throughout the history of a nation and a culture. Barely over half the book is dedicated to the ‘Imperial’ period from the first appearances of the elements that would become then shape Chinese culture to the fall of the Qing dynasty and the rest of the book covering the 20th Century that saw the Republican, Nationalist, and Communist eras. Goldman’s last chapter and epilogue attempts to follow Fairbanks threads and themes though in her own words and style which meshed well. This is not a history the delves into important people until the arrival of Mao, yet those Fairbanks points out and gives significant page space to are connected to the threads and themes. The number of sources and closer we get to our own time means the speed of history slows down, which given the number of pages is understandable but there were some sections of Chinese history I which Fairbanks would have given more time to.
China: A New History is the masterpiece of noted historian John King Fairbanks with a well written addition by Merle Goldman bringing the nation’s history up to the 21st Century. Given the amount of time needed to be covered and the number of pages its down in, it’s a fantastic history.… (mere)