The Wobbling Pivot, China Since 1800 - by Pamela Kyle Crossley

Book Synopsis

This comprehensive but concise narrative of China since the eighteenth century builds its story around the delicate relationship between central government and local communities.

• Rejects the traditional view of China as a wholly harmonious society based on principles of stability - the Unwobbling Pivot of Ezra Pound's translation of the Chinese classic Zhongyong
• Provides an original interpretation, arguing that developments can be explained through an understanding of China's surprising swings between centralization and decentralization, between local initiative and central authoritarianism
• Serves as an introduction to the subject, while readers with a background in Chinese history will find the book offers a personal perspective and addresses long-standing interpretive issues
• Supported by a variety of timelines, maps, illustrations, and extensive notes for further reading
• Places China's history within the context of global change

From the Back Cover

This comprehensive but concise narrative of China since the eighteenth century builds its story around the delicate relationship between central government and local communities.

With a nod to Ezra Pound's translation of the Chinese classic Zhongyong - The Unwobbling Pivot, Pamela Kyle Crossley argues that China's modern history has not wholly adhered to the ideal of the 'unwobbling pivot', with China as a harmonious society based on principles of stability. Instead she argues that developments can be explained through China's surprising swings between centralization and decentralization, between local initiative and central authoritarianism. The author's approach is broad enough to provide a full introduction to modern Chinese history. Students new to the subject will be supported with timelines, maps, illustrations, and extensive notes to further readings, while those with a background in Chinese history will find an underlying theme in the narrative addressing long-standing interpretive issues.

As a personal perspective from a leading authority in the field, The Wobbling Pivot provides a stimulating and original interpretation of the course of modern Chinese history.

Review Quotes

"Finding a fresh angle to a familiar story is a challenge, one that this book has dealt with creatively and convincingly." (English Historical Review, 1 June 2014

"[A] lively survey ... .It sheds considerable light on contemporary Chinese dilemmas." (Shanghaiist, December 2010)

"As a textbook, The Wobbling Pivot is accessible, complete and readable, and as a synthesis of twentieth century Chinese history, it is both original and provocative, and a valuable introduction to the perennial issues that China poses in the undergraduate classroom." (The China Quarterly, 1 September 2012)

About the Author

Pamela Kyle Crossley is Professor of Inner Asian, East Asian Intellectual and Chinese History at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire. Her publications include The Manchus (Blackwell, 1997); A Translucent Mirror: History and Identity in Qing Ideology (1999); and What is Global History? (2008). She is a past Guggenheim Fellow and was awarded the Levenson Prize from the Association for Asian Studies in 2001.