Echoing and building on Introduction to Chinese Modern Culture (1997, Zhonghua Book Company), Chinese Modern Cultural History was published by Zhonghua Book Company in October, 2012. The textbook was edited by Zhang Zhaojun and Sun Yanjing, both of whom are professors at Beijing Normal University. Because “cultural history” is a difficult concept to define, Chinese Modern Cultural History is a pilot work in the field which seeks to develop a framework for approaching a nebulous topic. As a university textbook, it systematically sorts and lists developments within the discipline of modern cultural history in China since the publication of Introduction to Chinese Modern Culture. Together, these closely connected works embody the inheritance of and innovation within China’s academic theorization of cultural history.
 
Chinese Modern Cultural History proceeds from a succinct definition of culture, regarding it as “the integration and institutionalization process of a group or society’s general values, thoughts, ethics, knowledge, art, habits and customs, and overall spirit” and divides culture into three levels: values, knowledge and institutions. The book examines China’s process of cultural modernization between 1826 and 1956, within which it shows the inception and development of modern New Culture as a transformation of traditional culture. In its broad outline, the book divides the period between 1826 and 1956 into three stages, employing cross-historical narration.
 
Wang Jianwei, deputy researcher at the Institute of History at Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, said that Chinese Modern Cultural History as a university textbook takes an active role in exploring various fields and in so doing forges its own unique academic style and pattern of narration. A significant feature of the book, Wang commented, is its delineation of the range of the time period for Chinese modern cultural history. In the book, the editors elaborated that the early period of Daoguang Reign was a moment for the transformation of traditional culture. Although the Opium Wars played a significant and symbolic role in politics and culture, China’s intellectuals had already begun seeking pragmatic solutions and methods of transformation before the outbreak of the first war. Chinese Modern Cultural History argues that the start of the intellectuals’ search for pragmatism and transformation is closely correlated with the birth of modern New Culture in China. In putting forth this viewpoint, it designated the publication of Compilation of Royal Classic Texts in 1826 as the starting point of Chinese modern cultural history and setting the official establishment of Chinese socialist system in 1956 as the end of Chinese modern cultural history.
 
In addition, Wang claimed that the book focuses on institutional construction and also provides information on educational development, the foundation and development of science, and the left-wing cultural movement during that period. “This book presents the abundant and various facets of modern Chinese culture vividly, emphasizing the influences of political, social and economic factors,” Wang concluded.
 
 
Zhang Zhaojun and Sun Yanjing are professors at Beijing Normal University.

The Chinese version appeared in Chinese Social Sciences Today, No. 429, Mar. 20, 2013
                                          
                                                                                                                       Translated by Zhang Mengying