Book Review: Far East: Communist China, Mao and the Chinese Revolution
| Author | Wm. G. Saywell |
| Published date | 01 September 1966 |
| Date | 01 September 1966 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/002070206602100331 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
394
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
ture
between
China
and
Japan
before
they
suffered
the
Western
"im-
pact"
are
left
unexploited in
such
summary
paragraphs.
Pre-modern
Japanese
society
and
Japanese
history
from
1800
to
1912
are
treated
in
just
three
pages, despite
Japan's
significance,
even
for
Southeast
Asian
readers,
as
the
only
non-European
country
to
date
which
has
success-
fully
achieved complete
economic
modernization.
In
rightly
emphasiz-
ing
the
considerable
unity
of
experience which
has
characterized
Asian
history
since
1800,
the
author
has
missed
opportunities
for
making
stocktaking
interpretations
which
could
have
raised
his
book
beyond
its
level
of
unoriginal
if
painstaking
narrative.
To
cite
just
one ex-
ample,
he
might
have linked
by
analysis
the
common
responses
to
European
civilization which
have
in
the
past
century
shaped
the
thought
of
such
diverse
but
typical
Asian
idealists
as
India's
Gandhi, Vietnam's
Phan
Bol
Chau,
China's
Liang
Shu-ming,
and
Japan's
Okakura
Kakuzo.
On
such
a
broad canvas,
fresh
insights
and
parallels
are
always
wel-
come.
The
book's
scope
is
perhaps
its
chief
asset.
Its
style
is
notable
for
its
clarity
and
its
lack
of
dogmatism.
Harvard
University
ALEXANDER
WOODSEDD
COMMUNIST
CHINA.
The
Early
Years,
1949-1955.
By
A.
Doak
Barnett.
1964.
(New
York:
Frederick
A.
Praeger.
Toronto:
Burns
&
Mac-
Eachern.
xiv
336pp.
$8.40)
MAO
AND
THE
CHINESE
REVOLUTrION.
By
Jerome
Ch'8n.
1965.
(New York:
Toronto:
Oxford
University
Press.
ix,
419pp.
$7.25)
The
collapse
of
the
Kuomintang and
the
rise
to
power
of
the
Chinese
Communist
Party
in
1949,
are
obviously
still
too
near
to
us
to
expect
a
definitive
study
of
this era.
Many
of
the
leading
actors
are
still
on
stage or
have
only
recently
left,
and
the
sources
are
not
only
incomplete
and often
inaccurate
but
frequently
hopelessly
biased.
Yet
within
these
serious
limitations
a
good
deal
of
excellent work
is
now
being
published
on
this
period.
In
Mao
and
the
Ckhnese
Revolution,
Jerome
Ch'Cn
has
made
an
outstanding
contribution
to
our
knowledge
of
China
up
to
his
terminal date
of
1949.
Ch'tn
has
written
far
more
than
a
reliable
political
biography.
He
has
offered
an
objective,
well-balanced
and
relatively thorough study
of
the
political
history
of
these
years.
But
the
focus
of
his
study
remains
on
Mao,
on
the
development
of
his
revolutionary
temperament,
the
growth
of
his political
thought,
and
above
all
on
the
exciting
account
or
his
rise
to
leadership
both
within
the
party
and
ultimately
the
nation.
Inner-party struggles
are
related
in
exhaustive,
occasionally
exhaust-
ing,
detail, and skilfully
woven
into
the
full
perspective
of
national
events.
Ch'6n
has
not attempted
to settle
the
long-standing
and
often
bitter
debate
on
the
originality
of
Mao's
political
thought.
Rather,
he
has
wisely
emphasized
the
consistently
complete
integration
of
Mao's
political activities
and
the
development
of
his
thought.
Conceding
that
Japanese
aggression
proved
to
be
the
"midwife"
of
Chinese
nationalism,
and
that
the
Kuomintang
failure
was profound,
his
focus
remains
on
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