There is more than one way to write history: The historical landscape in ten book reviews/by Mao Sheng

**How else can we write about China’s modern history?** --**Rewrite a century-old history of humiliation with "a series of jokes"** --**Reflecting on the complexity and paradox of modernity through the bottom society** --**Define China by its borders** --**Small countries as a method** **Analyzing new studies on Europe, America, Hong Kong and Taiwan • Presenting a different historical landscape in a diverse academic context** **Bei Dao, Fu Gaoyi, Wang Gungwu, Chen Yongfa, Wang Qisheng and others jointly recommended** This book presents ten historical research maps of different landscapes, leading readers to explore alternative landscapes beyond mainstream historical narratives. The author selects new research on Chinese history and East Asian history in Europe, the United States, Hong Kong and Taiwan in recent years, uses the method of academic book reviews to sort out the current situation and context of related research fields, and carefully analyzes the gains and losses of the work in this context, and explores the various possibilities of historical writing: using small figures Write big history, rewrite China's modern history with laughter instead of tears, define China with its borders, and examine modernization from the perspective of the bottom... This book covers political and diplomatic history, border history, social history and cultural history, etc., leading readers to see the trees and the forest - not only have a deep understanding of the content of each work, but also the author's awareness of issues, academic origins and the ground he is based on. academic tradition. The author has combed through the research on the history of China and North Korea in the English-speaking academic circles, and also conducted a detailed analysis of multiple academic monographs like an anatomy of a sparrow. Through these research notes and book reviews, the author points out: There is more than one way to write history. Scholars in different academic circles write history with their own characteristics based on their own problem awareness and academic traditions, and thus invent each other. Readers can also use this academic map to start a new exploration of modern history. Author: Mao Sheng ISBN: 9789882372061 Decoration frame: plain packaging Language: Traditional Chinese Number of pages: 208 Dimensions: 216 x 142 mm **About the author** Mao Sheng holds a Ph.D. in History from the University of Pennsylvania. He once engaged in postdoctoral research at the Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica, Taiwan, and currently teaches in the History Department of Lingnan University in Hong Kong. His research areas include the history of the People's Republic of China, the history of frontiers and frontiers, the international history of the Cold War, urban history, and the history of laughter. He has published many articles in The China Review, "Journal of the Institute of Modern History of Academia Sinica", "21st Century" and other publications. He is also the author of "China and Japan: 1500 Years of Exchange History" by Ezra F. Vogel. The Chinese translator of the book "The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press, 2019". **recommend** As a historian, Mao Sheng is a counterexample to the educational system based on instrumental rationality. He wanders on the edge of the so-called mainstream discourse and gains a certain freedom of questioning, questioning and rebuttal. ──Bei Dao (poet) Interesting, easy to read, and eye-opening. This small book presents the author's academic process and exploration experience, from which a brand new world of modern Chinese history can be discovered. When historians from different regions, languages and countries study the same period of modern Chinese history, they not only have different concerns and topics, but also have different ideological assumptions, writing methods, narrative structures and discussion approaches. After reading this book easily, I can't help but exclaim that apart from the old clichés, China's modern and contemporary history actually has a different voice. Listen carefully and you won't find it boring at all. At the same time, we discovered that, because all historical works have been processed by subjective consciousness, they can be believed, tested, discussed, rejected, and can also be criticized, reflected on, learned from, and transcended. ──Chen Yongfa (Academician of Academia Sinica, Taiwan) Dr. Mao Sheng attaches great importance to academic dialogue and is also good at academic dialogue. His keen and unique insights can often be heard in academic seminars. He emphasized that looking at history from multiple perspectives, removing the nationality and the center, there is no superiority or inferiority between the old and the new, Chinese and Western, and it is meaningful to look up and down. He deliberately selected some foreign works with new methods and perspectives to recommend to Chinese readers, intending to show that there is more than one way to write history, and that different methods and perspectives can complement each other. The promotion process was also a wonderful dialogue between him and his colleagues from abroad. Reading his book gives you the pleasure of watching masters compete. ──Wang Qisheng (Professor, Department of History, Peking University) In the "Preface", Mao Sheng describes his growth trajectory: a graduate student at Beijing Broadcasting University, went to Nanjing University to study history, then came to the University of Pennsylvania to complete his PhD, and engaged in postdoctoral research at the Academia Sinica in Taiwan. The many articles included in this book reflect his deep understanding of various historical research methods, and the breadth of his historical knowledge is impressive. ──Ezra F. Vogel, Henry Ford II Professor Emeritus of Social Sciences at Harvard University