Available From UC Press

In this cogent and insightful reading of China’s twentieth-century political culture, David Strand argues that the Chinese Revolution of 1911 engendered a new political life—one that began to free men and women from the inequality and hierarchy that formed the spine of China’s social and cultural order. Chinese citizens confronted their leaders and each other face-to-face in a stance familiar to republics worldwide. This shift in political posture was accompanied by considerable trepidation as well as excitement. Profiling three prominent political actors of the time—suffragist Tang Qunying, diplomat Lu Zhengxiang, and revolutionary Sun Yatsen—Strand demonstrates how a sea change in political performance left leaders dependent on popular support and citizens enmeshed in a political process productive of both authority and dissent.

David Strand teaches politics and history at Dickinson College and is the author of Rickshaw Beijing: City People and Politics in the 1920s (UC Press).

“Strand eloquently joins political theories to historical reinterpretation, offering a cogent and multifaceted re-reading of China’s political culture in the twentieth century. An Unfinished Republic is a stunning book of scholarly imagination, diligence, and sophistication.”—Wen-hsin Yeh, Richard H. & Laurie C. Morrison Professor in History, Walter & Elise Haas Professor in Asian Studies, Director, Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley

“An Unfinished Republic proposes a compelling new interpretation of early twentieth century Chinese history. It opens up unvisited avenues of inquiry into the uniquely Chinese mode and meaning of Republicanism and remaps the trajectory of Chinese politics over the course of the century. Strand is a particularly thoughtful and well-read scholar, who commands knowledge of a range of literatures including political science, cultural history, women’s history and political philosophy. He adeptly uses tools from all of these fields to support fresh insight into how Chinese Republicanism was understood, and more importantly, into how it was practiced.”—Joan Judge, author of The Precious Raft of History: The Past, the West, and the Woman Question in China