Author: Gary M. Davison
Publisher: Praeger
ISBN: 0275981312
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
This concise account of Taiwan's history makes a cogent, compelling argument for the right of the Taiwanese people to declare their nation independent, if they so choose. Davison's bold stand—unprecedented from a Western author—challenges the one China notion advanced in the Shanghai Communique of 1972 and states unequivocally that, should independence be proclaimed, it could only be taken away by force if the international community sides with contemporary might over historical right. He argues that the possible conflict could be sufficiently incendiary to induce a major military clash between the United States, the People's Republic of China, and other major powers. Davison lets the facts of Taiwanese history make the case for Taiwan's existence as a unique national entity. A historical overview details the circumstances under which the Qing dynasty made its 17th century claim on the island, the events that led to cession to Japan in 1895, the origins of the Guomindang occupation during the Chinese Civil War, and the dramatic election of March 2000 that brought the Democratic Progressive Party's Chen Shuibian to office, ending Guomindang domination. After centuries of outsider domination, and over a hundred years of disconnection from any government exercising power over all of mainland China, the Taiwanese people are in a position to make a decision for national independence based on solid historical evidence.
A Short History of Taiwan
Author: Gary M. Davison
Publisher: Praeger
ISBN: 0275981312
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
This concise account of Taiwan's history makes a cogent, compelling argument for the right of the Taiwanese people to declare their nation independent, if they so choose. Davison's bold stand—unprecedented from a Western author—challenges the one China notion advanced in the Shanghai Communique of 1972 and states unequivocally that, should independence be proclaimed, it could only be taken away by force if the international community sides with contemporary might over historical right. He argues that the possible conflict could be sufficiently incendiary to induce a major military clash between the United States, the People's Republic of China, and other major powers. Davison lets the facts of Taiwanese history make the case for Taiwan's existence as a unique national entity. A historical overview details the circumstances under which the Qing dynasty made its 17th century claim on the island, the events that led to cession to Japan in 1895, the origins of the Guomindang occupation during the Chinese Civil War, and the dramatic election of March 2000 that brought the Democratic Progressive Party's Chen Shuibian to office, ending Guomindang domination. After centuries of outsider domination, and over a hundred years of disconnection from any government exercising power over all of mainland China, the Taiwanese people are in a position to make a decision for national independence based on solid historical evidence.
Publisher: Praeger
ISBN: 0275981312
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
This concise account of Taiwan's history makes a cogent, compelling argument for the right of the Taiwanese people to declare their nation independent, if they so choose. Davison's bold stand—unprecedented from a Western author—challenges the one China notion advanced in the Shanghai Communique of 1972 and states unequivocally that, should independence be proclaimed, it could only be taken away by force if the international community sides with contemporary might over historical right. He argues that the possible conflict could be sufficiently incendiary to induce a major military clash between the United States, the People's Republic of China, and other major powers. Davison lets the facts of Taiwanese history make the case for Taiwan's existence as a unique national entity. A historical overview details the circumstances under which the Qing dynasty made its 17th century claim on the island, the events that led to cession to Japan in 1895, the origins of the Guomindang occupation during the Chinese Civil War, and the dramatic election of March 2000 that brought the Democratic Progressive Party's Chen Shuibian to office, ending Guomindang domination. After centuries of outsider domination, and over a hundred years of disconnection from any government exercising power over all of mainland China, the Taiwanese people are in a position to make a decision for national independence based on solid historical evidence.
Revolutionary Taiwan
Author: Catherine Lila Chou
Publisher: Cambria Press
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 203
Book Description
This book is in the Cambria Sinophone World Series, headed by Victor H. Mair (University of Pennsylvania). In the early 1990s, the people of Taiwan gained the right to vote for their executive and legislature. In building a democratic society, they transformed how they saw themselves and their homeland. The outcome of democratization was nothing less than revolutionary, producing a new, de facto nation and people that can be justly called "Taiwanese." Yet this revolution remains unfinished and incomplete. In an era of increasing US-China rivalry, the People's Republic of China (PRC) claims sovereignty over Taiwan and insists that "reunification" is the historic mission of all peoples on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. The PRC threatens war with and over the island, inviting a crisis that would engulf the region and beyond. Common ideas about Taiwan-that it "split with China in 1949" or "sees itself as the true China"-fail to explain why the Taiwanese withstand pressure from the PRC to relinquish their democratic self-governance. Revolutionary Taiwan sheds light on this. Each chapter shows how democratization in Taiwan constituted a revolution, changing not just the form of government but also how Taiwanese people conceptualized the island, coming to see it a complete nation unto itself. At the same time, however, Beijing has blocked the "normal" endpoint of this revolution: an open declaration of statehood and welcome into the global community. Revolutionary Taiwan: Making Nationhood in a Changing World Order brings the Taiwan story to a general audience. It will appeal to students and readers interested in international relations, contemporary geopolitics, and East Asian Studies. Informed by years of academic research and life in Taiwan, this book provides an entry point to a remarkable place and people.
Publisher: Cambria Press
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 203
Book Description
This book is in the Cambria Sinophone World Series, headed by Victor H. Mair (University of Pennsylvania). In the early 1990s, the people of Taiwan gained the right to vote for their executive and legislature. In building a democratic society, they transformed how they saw themselves and their homeland. The outcome of democratization was nothing less than revolutionary, producing a new, de facto nation and people that can be justly called "Taiwanese." Yet this revolution remains unfinished and incomplete. In an era of increasing US-China rivalry, the People's Republic of China (PRC) claims sovereignty over Taiwan and insists that "reunification" is the historic mission of all peoples on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. The PRC threatens war with and over the island, inviting a crisis that would engulf the region and beyond. Common ideas about Taiwan-that it "split with China in 1949" or "sees itself as the true China"-fail to explain why the Taiwanese withstand pressure from the PRC to relinquish their democratic self-governance. Revolutionary Taiwan sheds light on this. Each chapter shows how democratization in Taiwan constituted a revolution, changing not just the form of government but also how Taiwanese people conceptualized the island, coming to see it a complete nation unto itself. At the same time, however, Beijing has blocked the "normal" endpoint of this revolution: an open declaration of statehood and welcome into the global community. Revolutionary Taiwan: Making Nationhood in a Changing World Order brings the Taiwan story to a general audience. It will appeal to students and readers interested in international relations, contemporary geopolitics, and East Asian Studies. Informed by years of academic research and life in Taiwan, this book provides an entry point to a remarkable place and people.
Love and Revolution
Author: Ping Lu
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231138539
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 194
Book Description
"Death is inevitably the end of a journey. Death also allows the journey to go back to the beginning." In this bold novel, one of Taiwan's most celebrated authors reimagines the lives of a legendary couple: Sun Yat-sen, known as the "Father of the Chinese Revolution," and his wife, Song Qingling. Born in 1866, Sun Yat-sen grew up an admirer of the rebels who tried to overthrow the ruling Manchu dynasty. He dreamed of strengthening China from within, but after a failed attempt at leading an insurrection in 1895, Sun was exiled to Japan. Only in 1916, after the dynasty fell and the new Chinese Republic was established, did he return to his country and assume the role of provisional president. While in Japan, Sun met and married the beautiful Song Qingling. Twenty-six years her husband's junior, Song came from a wealthy, influential Chinese family (her sister married Chiang Kai-shek) and had received a college education in Macon, Georgia. Their tumultuous and politically charged relationship fuels this riveting novel. Weaving together three distinct voices--Sun's, Song's, and a young woman rumored to be the daughter of Song's illicit lover--Ping Lu's narrative experiments with invented memories and historical fact to explore the couple's many failings and desires. Touching on Sun Yat-sen's tormented political life and Song Qingling's rumored affairs and isolation after her husband's death, the novel follows the story all the way to 1981, recounting political upheavals Sun himself could never have imagined.
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231138539
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 194
Book Description
"Death is inevitably the end of a journey. Death also allows the journey to go back to the beginning." In this bold novel, one of Taiwan's most celebrated authors reimagines the lives of a legendary couple: Sun Yat-sen, known as the "Father of the Chinese Revolution," and his wife, Song Qingling. Born in 1866, Sun Yat-sen grew up an admirer of the rebels who tried to overthrow the ruling Manchu dynasty. He dreamed of strengthening China from within, but after a failed attempt at leading an insurrection in 1895, Sun was exiled to Japan. Only in 1916, after the dynasty fell and the new Chinese Republic was established, did he return to his country and assume the role of provisional president. While in Japan, Sun met and married the beautiful Song Qingling. Twenty-six years her husband's junior, Song came from a wealthy, influential Chinese family (her sister married Chiang Kai-shek) and had received a college education in Macon, Georgia. Their tumultuous and politically charged relationship fuels this riveting novel. Weaving together three distinct voices--Sun's, Song's, and a young woman rumored to be the daughter of Song's illicit lover--Ping Lu's narrative experiments with invented memories and historical fact to explore the couple's many failings and desires. Touching on Sun Yat-sen's tormented political life and Song Qingling's rumored affairs and isolation after her husband's death, the novel follows the story all the way to 1981, recounting political upheavals Sun himself could never have imagined.
The Great Exodus from China
Author: Dominic Meng-Hsuan Yang
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108478123
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 331
Book Description
Dominic Meng-Hsuan Yang examines the human exodus from China to Taiwan in 1949, focusing on trauma, memory, and identity.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108478123
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 331
Book Description
Dominic Meng-Hsuan Yang examines the human exodus from China to Taiwan in 1949, focusing on trauma, memory, and identity.
The Great Flowing River
Author: Chi Pang-yuan
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231547811
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 485
Book Description
Heralded as a literary masterpiece and a best-seller in the Chinese-speaking world, The Great Flowing River is a personal account of the history of modern China and Taiwan unlike any other. In this eloquent autobiography, the noted scholar, writer, and teacher Chi Pang-yuan recounts her youth in mainland China and adulthood in Taiwan. Chi’s remarkable life, told in rich and striking detail, humanizes the eventful and turbulent times in which she lived. The Great Flowing River begins as a coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of China’s war with Japan. Chi depicts her childhood in pre-occupation Manchuria and gives an eyewitness account of life in China during the war with Japan. She tells the tale of her youthful romance with a dashing pilot that ends tragically when he is shot down in the last days of the war. The book describes the deepening political divide in China and her choice to take a job in Taiwan, where she would remain after the Communist victory. Chi details her growth as an educator, scholar, and promoter of Chinese literature in translation and her realization that despite her roots in China, she has found a home in Taiwan, giving an immersive account of the postwar history of Taiwan from a mainlander’s perspective. A novelistic, epoch-defining narrative, The Great Flowing River unites the personal and intimate with the grand sweep of history.
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231547811
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 485
Book Description
Heralded as a literary masterpiece and a best-seller in the Chinese-speaking world, The Great Flowing River is a personal account of the history of modern China and Taiwan unlike any other. In this eloquent autobiography, the noted scholar, writer, and teacher Chi Pang-yuan recounts her youth in mainland China and adulthood in Taiwan. Chi’s remarkable life, told in rich and striking detail, humanizes the eventful and turbulent times in which she lived. The Great Flowing River begins as a coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of China’s war with Japan. Chi depicts her childhood in pre-occupation Manchuria and gives an eyewitness account of life in China during the war with Japan. She tells the tale of her youthful romance with a dashing pilot that ends tragically when he is shot down in the last days of the war. The book describes the deepening political divide in China and her choice to take a job in Taiwan, where she would remain after the Communist victory. Chi details her growth as an educator, scholar, and promoter of Chinese literature in translation and her realization that despite her roots in China, she has found a home in Taiwan, giving an immersive account of the postwar history of Taiwan from a mainlander’s perspective. A novelistic, epoch-defining narrative, The Great Flowing River unites the personal and intimate with the grand sweep of history.
China and Taiwan
Author: Steven M. Goldstein
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0745696112
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 176
Book Description
Relations between Taiwan and the Peoples Republic of China have oscillated between outright hostility and wary detente ever since the Archipelago seceded from the Communist mainland over six decades ago. While the mainland has long coveted the island, Taiwan has resisted - aided by the United States which continues to play a decisive role in cross-strait relations today. In this comprehensive analysis, noted China specialist Steven Goldstein shows that although relations between Taiwan and its larger neighbor have softened, underlying tensions remain unresolved. These embers of conflict could burst into flames at any point, engulfing the whole region and potentially dragging the United States into a dangerous confrontation with the PRC Guiding readers expertly through the historical background to the complexities of this fragile peace, Goldstein discusses the shifting economic, political and security terrain, and examines the pivotal role played by the United States in providing weapons and diplomatic support to Taiwan whilst managing a complex relationship with an increasingly powerful China. Drawing on a wealth of newly declassified material, this compelling and insightful book is an invaluable guide to one of the worlds riskiest, long-running conflicts.
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0745696112
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 176
Book Description
Relations between Taiwan and the Peoples Republic of China have oscillated between outright hostility and wary detente ever since the Archipelago seceded from the Communist mainland over six decades ago. While the mainland has long coveted the island, Taiwan has resisted - aided by the United States which continues to play a decisive role in cross-strait relations today. In this comprehensive analysis, noted China specialist Steven Goldstein shows that although relations between Taiwan and its larger neighbor have softened, underlying tensions remain unresolved. These embers of conflict could burst into flames at any point, engulfing the whole region and potentially dragging the United States into a dangerous confrontation with the PRC Guiding readers expertly through the historical background to the complexities of this fragile peace, Goldstein discusses the shifting economic, political and security terrain, and examines the pivotal role played by the United States in providing weapons and diplomatic support to Taiwan whilst managing a complex relationship with an increasingly powerful China. Drawing on a wealth of newly declassified material, this compelling and insightful book is an invaluable guide to one of the worlds riskiest, long-running conflicts.
Transitions in Taiwan
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781621966975
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
Book Description
"Taiwan's peaceful and democratic society is built upon on decades of authoritarian state violence that it is still coming to terms with. Following 50 years of Japanese colonization, Taiwan was occupied by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) at the close of World War II in 1945. The party massacred thousands of Taiwanese while it established a military dictatorship on the island with the tacit support of the United States. Although early episodes of state violence (such as the 228 Incident in 1947) and post-1980s democratization in Taiwan have received a significant amount of literary and scholarly attention, relatively less has been written or translated about the White Terror and martial law period, which began in 1949. The White Terror was aimed at alleged proponents of Taiwanese independence as well as supposed communist collaborators wiped out an entire generation of intellectuals. Both native-born Taiwanese as well as mainland Chinese exiles were subject to imprisonment, torture, and execution. During this time, the KMT institutionally favored mainland Chinese over native-born Taiwanese and reserved most military, educational, and police positions for the former. Taiwanese were forcibly "re-educated" as Chinese subjects. China-centric national history curricula, forced Mandarin-language pedagogy and media, and the re-naming of streets and public spaces after places in China further enforced a representational regime of Chineseness to legitimize the authority of the KMT, which did not lift martial law until 1987. Taiwan's contemporary commitment to transitional justice and democracy hinges on this history of violence, for which this volume provides a literary treatment as essential as it is varied. This is among the first collection of stories to comprehensively address the social, political, and economic aspects of White Terror, and to do so with deep attention to their transnational character. Featuring contributions from many of Taiwan's most celebrated authors, and written in genres that range between realism, satire, and allegory, it examines the modes and mechanisms of the White Terror and party-state exploitation in prisons, farming villages, slums, military bases, and professional communities. Transitions in Taiwan: Stories of the White Terror is an important book for Taiwan studies, Asian Studies, literature, and social justice collections. This book is part of the Literature from Taiwan Series, in collaboration with the National Museum of Taiwan Literature and National Taiwan Normal University"--
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781621966975
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
Book Description
"Taiwan's peaceful and democratic society is built upon on decades of authoritarian state violence that it is still coming to terms with. Following 50 years of Japanese colonization, Taiwan was occupied by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) at the close of World War II in 1945. The party massacred thousands of Taiwanese while it established a military dictatorship on the island with the tacit support of the United States. Although early episodes of state violence (such as the 228 Incident in 1947) and post-1980s democratization in Taiwan have received a significant amount of literary and scholarly attention, relatively less has been written or translated about the White Terror and martial law period, which began in 1949. The White Terror was aimed at alleged proponents of Taiwanese independence as well as supposed communist collaborators wiped out an entire generation of intellectuals. Both native-born Taiwanese as well as mainland Chinese exiles were subject to imprisonment, torture, and execution. During this time, the KMT institutionally favored mainland Chinese over native-born Taiwanese and reserved most military, educational, and police positions for the former. Taiwanese were forcibly "re-educated" as Chinese subjects. China-centric national history curricula, forced Mandarin-language pedagogy and media, and the re-naming of streets and public spaces after places in China further enforced a representational regime of Chineseness to legitimize the authority of the KMT, which did not lift martial law until 1987. Taiwan's contemporary commitment to transitional justice and democracy hinges on this history of violence, for which this volume provides a literary treatment as essential as it is varied. This is among the first collection of stories to comprehensively address the social, political, and economic aspects of White Terror, and to do so with deep attention to their transnational character. Featuring contributions from many of Taiwan's most celebrated authors, and written in genres that range between realism, satire, and allegory, it examines the modes and mechanisms of the White Terror and party-state exploitation in prisons, farming villages, slums, military bases, and professional communities. Transitions in Taiwan: Stories of the White Terror is an important book for Taiwan studies, Asian Studies, literature, and social justice collections. This book is part of the Literature from Taiwan Series, in collaboration with the National Museum of Taiwan Literature and National Taiwan Normal University"--
State Formation in China and Taiwan
Author: Julia C. Strauss
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108476864
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 295
Book Description
An ambitious comparative study of regime consolidation in the 'revolutionary' People's Republic of China and 'conservative' Taiwan in the early 1950s.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108476864
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 295
Book Description
An ambitious comparative study of regime consolidation in the 'revolutionary' People's Republic of China and 'conservative' Taiwan in the early 1950s.
The United States, China, and Taiwan
Author: Robert Blackwill
Publisher: Council on Foreign Relations Press
ISBN: 9780876092835
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 102
Book Description
Taiwan "is becoming the most dangerous flash point in the world for a possible war that involves the United States, China, and probably other major powers," warn Robert D. Blackwill, Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) Henry A. Kissinger senior fellow for U.S. foreign policy, and Philip Zelikow, University of Virginia White Burkett Miller professor of history. In a new Council Special Report, The United States, China, and Taiwan: A Strategy to Prevent War, the authors argue that the United States should change and clarify its strategy to prevent war over Taiwan. "The U.S. strategic objective regarding Taiwan should be to preserve its political and economic autonomy, its dynamism as a free society, and U.S.-allied deterrence-without triggering a Chinese attack on Taiwan." "We do not think it is politically or militarily realistic to count on a U.S. military defeat of various kinds of Chinese assaults on Taiwan, uncoordinated with allies. Nor is it realistic to presume that, after such a frustrating clash, the United States would or should simply escalate to some sort of wide-scale war against China with comprehensive blockades or strikes against targets on the Chinese mainland." "If U.S. campaign plans postulate such unrealistic scenarios," the authors add, "they will likely be rejected by an American president and by the U.S. Congress." But, they observe, "the resulting U.S. paralysis would not be the result of presidential weakness or timidity. It might arise because the most powerful country in the world did not have credible options prepared for the most dangerous military crisis looming in front of it." Proposing "a realistic strategic objective for Taiwan, and the associated policy prescriptions, to sustain the political balance that has kept the peace for the last fifty years," the authors urge the Joe Biden administration to affirm that it is not trying to change Taiwan's status; work with its allies, especially Japan, to prepare new plans that could challenge Chinese military moves against Taiwan and help Taiwan defend itself, yet put the burden of widening a war on China; and visibly plan, beforehand, for the disruption and mobilization that could follow a wider war, but without assuming that such a war would or should escalate to the Chinese, Japanese, or American homelands. "The horrendous global consequences of a war between the United States and China, most likely over Taiwan, should preoccupy the Biden team, beginning with the president," the authors conclude.
Publisher: Council on Foreign Relations Press
ISBN: 9780876092835
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 102
Book Description
Taiwan "is becoming the most dangerous flash point in the world for a possible war that involves the United States, China, and probably other major powers," warn Robert D. Blackwill, Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) Henry A. Kissinger senior fellow for U.S. foreign policy, and Philip Zelikow, University of Virginia White Burkett Miller professor of history. In a new Council Special Report, The United States, China, and Taiwan: A Strategy to Prevent War, the authors argue that the United States should change and clarify its strategy to prevent war over Taiwan. "The U.S. strategic objective regarding Taiwan should be to preserve its political and economic autonomy, its dynamism as a free society, and U.S.-allied deterrence-without triggering a Chinese attack on Taiwan." "We do not think it is politically or militarily realistic to count on a U.S. military defeat of various kinds of Chinese assaults on Taiwan, uncoordinated with allies. Nor is it realistic to presume that, after such a frustrating clash, the United States would or should simply escalate to some sort of wide-scale war against China with comprehensive blockades or strikes against targets on the Chinese mainland." "If U.S. campaign plans postulate such unrealistic scenarios," the authors add, "they will likely be rejected by an American president and by the U.S. Congress." But, they observe, "the resulting U.S. paralysis would not be the result of presidential weakness or timidity. It might arise because the most powerful country in the world did not have credible options prepared for the most dangerous military crisis looming in front of it." Proposing "a realistic strategic objective for Taiwan, and the associated policy prescriptions, to sustain the political balance that has kept the peace for the last fifty years," the authors urge the Joe Biden administration to affirm that it is not trying to change Taiwan's status; work with its allies, especially Japan, to prepare new plans that could challenge Chinese military moves against Taiwan and help Taiwan defend itself, yet put the burden of widening a war on China; and visibly plan, beforehand, for the disruption and mobilization that could follow a wider war, but without assuming that such a war would or should escalate to the Chinese, Japanese, or American homelands. "The horrendous global consequences of a war between the United States and China, most likely over Taiwan, should preoccupy the Biden team, beginning with the president," the authors conclude.
Recharging China in War and Revolution, 1882–1955
Author: Ying Jia Tan
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501758977
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 303
Book Description
In Recharging China in War and Revolution, 1882–1955, Ying Jia Tan explores the fascinating politics of Chinese power consumption as electrical industries developed during seven decades of revolution and warfare. Tan traces this history from the textile-factory power shortages of the late Qing, through the struggle over China's electrical industries during its civil war, to the 1937 Japanese invasion that robbed China of 97 percent of its generative capacity. Along the way, he demonstrates that power industries became an integral part of the nation's military-industrial complex, showing how competing regimes asserted economic sovereignty through the nationalization of electricity. Based on a wide range of published records, engineering reports, and archival collections in China, Taiwan, Japan, and the United States, Recharging China in War and Revolution, 1882–1955 argues that, even in times of peace, the Chinese economy operated as though still at war, constructing power systems that met immediate demands but sacrificed efficiency and longevity. Thanks to generous funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, through The Sustainable History Monograph Pilot, the ebook editions of this book are available as Open Access volumes from Cornell Open (cornellpress.cornell.edu/cornell-open) and other repositories.
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501758977
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 303
Book Description
In Recharging China in War and Revolution, 1882–1955, Ying Jia Tan explores the fascinating politics of Chinese power consumption as electrical industries developed during seven decades of revolution and warfare. Tan traces this history from the textile-factory power shortages of the late Qing, through the struggle over China's electrical industries during its civil war, to the 1937 Japanese invasion that robbed China of 97 percent of its generative capacity. Along the way, he demonstrates that power industries became an integral part of the nation's military-industrial complex, showing how competing regimes asserted economic sovereignty through the nationalization of electricity. Based on a wide range of published records, engineering reports, and archival collections in China, Taiwan, Japan, and the United States, Recharging China in War and Revolution, 1882–1955 argues that, even in times of peace, the Chinese economy operated as though still at war, constructing power systems that met immediate demands but sacrificed efficiency and longevity. Thanks to generous funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, through The Sustainable History Monograph Pilot, the ebook editions of this book are available as Open Access volumes from Cornell Open (cornellpress.cornell.edu/cornell-open) and other repositories.