History Can Be Written in More Than One Way: Historical Landscapes in Ten Book Reviews / Mao Sheng

**How Else Can Modern Chinese History Be Written?** -- **Rewriting a Century of Humiliation Through "A Series of Jokes"** -- **Reflecting on the Complexities and Paradoxes of Modernity from the Perspective of Lower Social Strata** -- **Defining China Through Its Frontiers** -- **Using Small Nations as a Method** **Analyzing New Research from Europe, America, Hong Kong, and Taiwan • Presenting Diverse Historiographical Landscapes within Multiple Academic Contexts** **Jointly Recommended by Bei Dao, Ezra F. Vogel, Wang Gungwu, Chen Yung-fa, Wang Qisheng, and others** This book showcases ten distinct historical research landscapes, guiding readers to explore perspectives beyond mainstream historical narratives. The author selects recent scholarship from Europe, America, Hong Kong, and Taiwan on Chinese and East Asian history. Through academic book reviews, the author outlines the current state and context of relevant research fields, meticulously analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of each work within these contexts, and discussing various possibilities for writing history: writing grand history through the lives of ordinary people, rewriting modern Chinese history with laughter instead of tears, defining China through its frontiers, examining modernization from the perspective of the lower strata, and more. The book covers political and diplomatic history, frontier history, social history, and cultural history, leading readers to see both the trees and the forest—gaining a deep understanding of each work's content while also clarifying the author's research questions, academic origins, and the scholarly traditions they draw upon. The author meticulously examines research on Chinese and Korean history within the English-speaking academic world, as well as conducting detailed analyses of several academic monographs, akin to dissecting a sparrow to understand its anatomy. Through these research notes and reviews, the author points out that history can be written in more than one way. Scholars from different academic circles, grounded in their own research questions and traditions, engage in distinctive historical writing, thereby inventing each other. Readers can also use this academic map to embark on a new exploration of modern history. Author: Mao Sheng ISBN: 9789882372061 Binding: Paperback Language: Traditional Chinese Pages: 208 Dimensions: 216 x 142 mm **About the Author** Mao Sheng holds a Ph.D. in History from the University of Pennsylvania. He previously conducted postdoctoral research at the Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica, in Taiwan, and currently teaches in the Department of History at Lingnan University in Hong Kong. His research interests include the history of the People's Republic of China, frontier and border history, Cold War international history, urban history, and the history of laughter. He has published numerous articles in journals such as *The China Review*, *Academia Sinica – Modern History Quarterly*, and *Twenty-First Century*. He is also the Chinese translator of Ezra F. Vogel's *China and Japan: Facing History* (CUHK Press, 2019). **Endorsements** As a historian, Mao Sheng is an example of what education systems based on instrumental rationality are not. He navigates the margins of so-called mainstream discourse, gaining a certain freedom to question, doubt, and challenge. -- Bei Dao (Poet) Engaging, accessible, and eye-opening. This slim volume presents the author's intellectual journey and discoveries, revealing a completely new world of modern and contemporary Chinese history. Historians from different regions, languages, and countries not only have different concerns and topics when studying the same period of modern Chinese history but also different underlying assumptions, writing methods, narrative structures, and argumentative approaches. After easily finishing this book, one can't help but exclaim that beyond the old tunes, modern Chinese history has other voices. Listening closely, it's not at all dull or uninteresting. It also reveals that all historical works, because they have been processed by subjective consciousness, can be believed, examined, debated, rejected, and also criticized, reflected upon, learned from, and surpassed. -- Chen Yung-fa (Academician, Academia Sinica, Taiwan) Dr. Mao Sheng places particular emphasis on academic dialogue and excels at it. In academic conferences, one can often hear his sharp and unique insights. He stresses the importance of viewing history from multiple perspectives, de-nationalizing and de-centering, recognizing that neither Chinese nor Western, old nor new, is inherently superior, and that looking up or down both have meaning. He intentionally chooses to introduce foreign works with new methods and perspectives to Chinese readers, aiming to demonstrate that history can be written in more than one way, and that different methods and perspectives can complement each other. The process of introduction is also a brilliant dialogue between him and his foreign peers. Reading his book offers the thrill of watching masters spar. -- Wang Qisheng (Professor, Department of History, Peking University) In his "Preface," Mao Sheng describes his own intellectual trajectory: from a graduate student at Beijing Radio University, to studying history at Nanjing University, and then pursuing his Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania, followed by postdoctoral research at Academia Sinica in Taiwan. The essays collected in this volume reflect his profound understanding of various historical research methodologies, and his breadth of historical knowledge is deeply impressive. -- Ezra F. Vogel (Professor Emeritus of Social Sciences, Henry Ford II Professor, Harvard University)