Ancestral Leaves

by Esherick, Joseph W.

• ISBN13: 9780520267008
• ISBN10: 0520267001
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-02-09
• Publisher: Univ of California Pr

Summary

Ancestral Leavesfollows one family through six hundred years of Chinese history and brings to life the epic narrative of the nation, from the fourteenth century through the Cultural Revolution. The lives of the Ye family--"Ye" means "leaf" in Chinese--reveal the human side of the large-scale events that shaped modern China: the vast and destructive rebellions of the nineteenth century, the economic growth and social transformation of the republican era, the Japanese invasion during World War II, and the Cultural Revolution under the Chinese Communists. Joseph W. Esherick draws from rare manuscripts and archival and oral history sources to provide an uncommonly personal and intimate glimpse into Chinese family history, illuminating the changing patterns of everyday life during rebellion, war, and revolution.

Author Biography

Joseph W. Esherick is Professor of Modern Chinese History at the University of California, San Diego. He is the author of the Origins of the Boxer Uprising (UC Press) and coeditor of The Chinese Cultural Revolution as History, among many books.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. ix
Preface	p. xi
The Imperial Era
Fleeing the Long Hairs	p. 3
Family Roots	p. 18
Father, Son, and Family	p. 36
Rebellion	p. 55
Official Life in the Late Qing	p. 69
A Time of Transitions	p. 99
Republican China
Doing Business in Tianjin	p. 117
Growing Up in Tianjin	p. 128
Student Life in the 1930s	p. 148
War	p. 182
The People's Republic
Family Life in New China	p. 223
Hundred Flowers and Poisonous Weeds	p. 250
The Cultural Revolution	p. 278
Epilogue: After the Deluge	p. 301
Notes	p. 317
Glossary of Chinese Terms	p. 357
Selected Ye Family Bibliography	p. 361
Index	p. 363
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