Achieve The Fall And Rise Of China Prepared By Richard Baum Provided As EPub

very good overview of the history of China from Mao to, The lecturer is articulate, well spoken and passionate about the subject, Definitely worth thehr time commitment Good insights into and overview of China's modern history, The professor is selffocused as many are in my experience, calling attention to his own excursions and endeavours, These digressions may be pertinent, but can also leave the listener with a feeling of the instructor's biases,

Produced in, so a little dated in its forwardlooking optimism, the latest iteration of the CCP has become far more hostile to freedom, Alittle out of date but a good introduction The lectures are the best way to understand modern China, The professor builds the image of an inwardlooking China, which lost its way before the second world war only to regain its rightful position in the world order now.
It's clear to me that the Chinese deserve their place among the top nations of the world, I think they should be given this right because they are very different from the militant Japanese cousins, Chinese have really taken to Confucius, they are only really concerned with the integrity of their own land and not really interested in any sort of colonization as demonstrated by their history.
Формат: Аудиокнига Язык: Английский
В целом добротный цикл лекций по истории Китаяначалаго веков. От опиумных войнх догода когда видимо были записаны данные лекции. Автор американский профессор, китаист. В целом подача материала вполне хороша, не совсем согласен с оценкой некоторых событий.
К перепрочтению возможно, по мере необходимости, года через. It's a bit hard to really rate since it's a very comprehensive history at least in theth century segment with varying success, What is nice about Baum is that he seems very sincere and really tries to understand the culture, He speaks Chinese and visited the country plenty of times unlike some other China watchers and commentators, which feel more propagandistic, Sometimes he gets a bit carried away with his anecdotes and humor that doesn't super resonate with me, but it's generally fine,

I've felt that the most controversial bits like the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution or the June Fourth Incident were okay but with some strange commentary on it at times.
Since it's an audiobook, there are no sources and he doesn't refer to many in the text, so I wondered at times, where he got his information from, He has a very democratic outlook with sometimes hindered him for a deeper understanding of underlying concepts, but it generally is very hard to get to the core of the things with Western glasses on.
I suppose that the actual interpretation of most events can be left to political thinkers and philosophers and I'm happy that he mostly stuck to just recounting the history.
To get a grip on Mao or Deng, you should look else where, For a comprehensive Westernmainstream account, this is very nice and accessible, Rather than a book, this is a series of/hour lectures you have your choice of audio of video format, . . I'm cheap so I went audio, . . after waiting for a sale amp a coupon, . . check out TGC. com. It is not cheap, but it was worth it in my case, We're planning a China trip, so I was motivated to learn a bit about the recent history of the country and perhaps appreciate the surroundings of the cities and countrysides more easily.

Dr Baum, the lecturer, had studied China for more thandecades, teaching at UCLA for much of that time he recently passed away and lectured for TGC with a passion and love for the Chinese people laobaixing that encouraged me to finish this series in less than a month kind of like finishing a semester of a college course in a month.
The firstlectures covered very briefly preMao Chinese history, . . Light Yes. But enough to get the parts dealing with the Opium Wars and Boxer Rebellion and the appalling behavior of the Western imperialists, . . giving the Chinese people reason to be pissed off and I'm not taking sides, . . like Dr Baum did. Then came the Japanese and their imperialist efforts, ultimately leading to WWII,
The rest of the lectures carefully traced the transition from the dynastic to the republic of China from Sun Yatsen to Chiang K'aishek amp Mao, through the bitter civil war and onto the brutal communist regime.
The narrative follows the course of Mao's early experiments with social and economic systems, following Stalin's blueprint, . . yielding dismal results and heightened civil unrest, What struck me most,for example, was the collective farm movement I couldn't help thinking about the US's current efforts to expand 'collective bargaining' with Federal Unions that proved to 'disincentivetivize the collective workforce and lead to starvation and death throughout the country.

Dr Baum's detractors claim that he's too easy on the despotic, downright monstrous, methods and actions of Mao Zedung during his periodic purges and social experiments, . . I tend to agree, but fully understand that Baum's point may be more directed toward the Chinese population aka victims and tries a more positive outlook for the future of China and her relations with the rest of the world.
. . especially the US. We should look at the Chinese people as more than just the 'Chicoms', but as people trying to make a better life for themselves apart from their government's mechanisms.


I enjoyed the lectures, even though it took an effort to persist through some 'tough' spots, Many kudos to Dr Baum, if only I could have had him along on our trip to translate, . . I freely admit listening to most of these twice or even three times this past month as I lectured on Chinese history, Not only is Baum an excellent and engaging lecturer, a true role model, he goes all the way to theOlympics and beyond, pushing forward the interpretation of contemporary Chinese history as a burgeoning superpower still obsessed with overturning those unequal treaties that put it in such a difficult spot during theth century, and returning to an idealized version of the 'flourishing age' of theth century.
It is a pity Baum passed away in, leaving me to wonder aloud in class what he would say about the newest chapter of Chinese history, Certainly the mixture of despair and hope he mentions feeling near the end, in, would not have been resolved,

Baum's expertise reaches its maximum when we tackle the causes of the Cultural Revolution, particularly the deepening conflict between Mao Zedong on the one hand, Liu Shaoqi, Deng Xiaoping, and other "experts" on the other, during the years after the Great Leap Forward.
Baum's story about finding, in a Taiwanese library in thes, documents showing how Liu's twisting of the Mao's educational program aftermade Mao furious, is a classic anecdote on the motivation and real practice of doing Chinese history.
All of his lectures on thes throughare sprinkled with personal anecdotes that add great depth and color to his account, again inspiring today's lessexperienced lecturer,

Baum's expertise drops off considerably in his approaches theth century, I was going to relate his anecdote about Qishan, the Manchu viceroy who took over Lin Zexu's post, and I had included the note that Qishan spent the rest of his life in exile after signing the Chuanbi Convention but it's not exactly true Qishan was called back to court and served in several important posts afterward.
This is not to castigate Baum in the least, but as a reminder that we must all be modest when we teach these big survey classes, as the most we can do is present the major turning points of history and one or two illustrative stories and biographical portraits, or perhaps some useful data for quantitative analysis.
Nobody knows it all. The late Professor Richard Baum, a China Watcher for approximately forty years and a professor of Political Science at UCLA, provided this fortyeight lecture series from The Great Courses that was completed in.
At the time, he stated in his penultimate lecture that he had won his battle with cancer, thus making it a poignant ending when he gave his final goodbye in the last lecture only to pass away two years later.


In any case, Professor Baum provided a very

impressive set of discourses on this modern history of China beginning with a synopsis of some ancient Chinese history which brought the student quickly to the fall of the Manchu Dynasty and the development of Chinese Communism under the leadership of Mao Zedong.
He then continues on throughat the time ending with theOlympics in Beijing and a discussion of the awakening of China politically and economically in the world community.


Professor Baum's lectures were educational and wellworthwhile for any serious student of Asian culture for many different reasons, First, the lectures are detailed in describing the modern history of China, As a China watcher for many years he was very much aware of sociological and political situations in China throughout theth century, Second, Professor Baum brought a personal aspect to the lectures in helping the student understand the existing and historical atmosphere in China, He did this in many cases by telling personal anecdotes of his experiences in China over the past forty to fifty years, Several of those anecdotes were poignant and personally described the situation of the Chinese people and their hardships under an oppressive government, Third, Professor Baum proved to be an independent and rational observer and educator, In other words, he did not fear to candidly and accurately tell about current and modern historical occurrences and their detrimental and traumatic effects on the Chinese population, He had no qualms in detailing the disquieting and tragic aftermath of such events as the Rape of Nanjing, the Five Year Plan, the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, Tiananmen Square, and their devastating ramifications.


Finally, Professor Baum was a practical educator, He not only told us what we needed to know about modern Chinese history and culture, but he also told us what we could do regarding America's current situation with China.
Some of his final words were that we should "Watch, wait, and hope, " These words would probably be wise counsel to the leaders of our nations as we watch "The sleeping giant" stir, .