Inventing China Through History: The May Fourth Approach to Historiography

This book describes the rise of national history in early-twentieth-century China. It studies the careers of a group of liberal historians including well-known figures such as Liang Qichao and Hu Shi and lesser known figures such as He Bingsong, Fu Sinian, Yao Congwu, and Chen Yinke. Buoyed by the quest for "Mr. Science" and "Mr. Democracy" during the May Fourth Movement of 1919, these historians searched for a scientific presentation of China's national past, inspired by the Western and Japanese practice of scientific history. Their efforts to bridge the perceived gap between tradition and modernity, native and foreign, past and present, created a new, scientific model of history in China. The book also discusses the significance of this historiographical experience in late-twentieth-century China and Taiwan.

Q. Edward Wang is Associate Professor and Chair of the History Department at Rowan University.