General He Yingqin: The Rise and Fall of Nationalist China

Peter Worthing

ISBN 10: 1316507815 / ISBN 13: 9781316507810

Published by Cambridge University Press, 2018

About this Item

Paperback, viii + 316 pages, b&w maps in text, NOT ex-library. Book is clean and bright throughout with unmarked text, free of inscriptions and stamps, firmly bound. Minor internal creasing; gentle handling wear to the covers. Straight uncreased spine. -- This book offers the first full?length scholarly biography of General He Yingqin, one of the most influential figures in the Nationalist regime. It traces his military and political career from the final years of the Qing dynasty through the rise of the Kuomintang, the Northern Expedition, the Nanjing Decade, and the war against Japan. As Chiang Kai?shek's close associate, He commanded the National Revolutionary Army during major campaigns, helped consolidate power after the 1927 split with the Communists, and served in high government and military posts during the Second Sino?Japanese War. The study also examines He's controversial role in the civil war and in the eventual collapse of Nationalist power on the mainland. Drawing on Chinese and Western archival sources, it combines narrative biography with analysis of factional politics, military strategy, and state?building. The work contributes to scholarship on modern Chinese history by reassessing both He Yingqin's rise and his political and military limitations, situating them within the larger story of Nationalist China's decline.

Seller Inventory # 011953

Bibliographic Details

• Title: General He Yingqin: The Rise and Fall of Nationalist China
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication Date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1316507815
• ISBN 13: 9781316507810
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

A revisionist study of the career of General He Yingqin, one of the most prominent military officers in China's Nationalist period (1928–49) and one of the most misunderstood figures in twentieth-century China. Western scholars have dismissed He Yingqin as corrupt and incompetent, yet the Chinese archives reveal that he demonstrated considerable success as a combat commander and military administrator during civil conflicts and the Sino-Japanese War. His work in the Chinese Nationalist military served as the foundation of a close personal and professional relationship with Chiang Kai-shek, with whom he worked closely for more than two decades. Against the backdrop of the Nationalist revolution of the 1920s through the 1940s, Peter Worthing analyzes He Yingqin's rise to power alongside Chiang Kai-shek, his work in building the Nationalist military, and his fundamental role in carrying out policies designed to overcome the regime's greatest obstacles during this turbulent period of Chinese history.

About the Author

Peter Worthing holds a Ph.D. in Chinese history from the University of Hawaii, Manoa, and is associate professor of history at Texas Christian University. He is the author of two other books, Occupation and Revolution: China and the Vietnamese August Revolution of 1945 and A Military History of Modern China: From the Manchu Conquest to Tian'anmen Square (2007). He has published articles in the Journal of Military History, Modern China, War and Society, Modern China Studies, and the Journal of American-East Asian Relations. He is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Chinese Military History.