A Newspaper, a Mission, a University: China's Successes and Failures in Transformation, 1897-1949

Jointly produced by Yijia Publishing and Doodao Society

Sixteen years in the making, a magnificent 500,000 words, three threads, spanning half a century

Retelling the history of civilization in the first five decades of the 20th century, discerning the successes and failures of China's transformation

In modern Chinese history, one newspaper (Ta Kung Pao), one publishing house (Commercial Press), and one university (Peking University) are worthy of attention. They hold symbolic significance. The universities, publishing industry, and independent newspapers they represented introduced new civilizations to China, cultivated several generations of new intellectuals, and served as a weathervane for freedom of thought, academic freedom, and freedom of speech in China. The intellectuals who founded these endeavors stood outside of power, maintained a distance from those in authority, and independently pioneered a new historical landscape. Their spiritual value and practical significance are indelible.

This was a truly great era of transformation. What I wrote was not just the story of three institutions, but the successes and failures of this transformation, merely choosing the perspective of these three institutions. However, with the hindsight of history, we have seen with immense pain that the work of this civilizational transformation remains unfinished, and this ancient nation is still wandering at a crossroads, remaining in a dim and uncertain historical moment. The significance of this book lies precisely here.

2025-03-06

1 Plus Books

666

9781966814061