China Only Yesterday: 1850-1950
A Century of Change
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Narrated by:
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Emily Woo Zeller
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By:
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Emily Hahn
About this listen
A fascinating journey through 100 years of Chinese history, beginning with the historic Treaty of Nanking and ending with Mao Tse-tung's creation of the Chinese People's Republic, by the acclaimed New Yorker correspondent who lived in China from 1935 to 1941.
For centuries China's code of behavior was incomprehensible to Westerners, whom the Chinese viewed as irredeemable barbarians. Presenting historical events with an immediacy that makes you feel as if you were there, Hahn takes listeners through isolationist China's difficult and often costly adaptations to the invasions of Western "foreign devils" - from the Treaty of Nanking in 1842, which gave the West access to five of China's eastern ports, to the British colonization of Hong Kong, the rise of the tea trade, the Opium Wars, the arrival of Christian missionaries, and the Boxer Rebellion. Hahn also illuminates the revolutionary movement led by Sun Yat-sen, the overthrow of the Ch'ing Dynasty, the escalating tensions between the Communist and Nationalist parties, and the Japanese invasion on the eve of World War II - which Hahn witnessed firsthand. The final chapters cover the civil war, which ended with Chairman Mao's formation of the People's Republic of China and Chiang Kai-shek's retreat to Taiwan.
With an insider's knowledge of Chinese culture and politics, Hahn delivers a sharply observant audiobook that illuminates an unforgettable era in China's tumultuous past.
©1963 Emily Hahn Boxer; This edition published in 2015 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc. (P)2015 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Detailed review of 1882 to 1914
- By smarmer on 04-06-14
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Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom
- China, the West, and the Epic Story of the Taiping Civil War
- By: Stephen R. Platt
- Narrated by: Angela Lin
- Length: 17 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Stephen R. Platt is widely respected for his incisive nonfiction, particularly in regard to his knowledge and understanding of China. With Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom, Platt details the absorbing narrative of the Taiping Rebellion, which resulted in the loss of 20 million lives. Occurring in the 1850s, this is the story of a cultural movement characterized by intriguing personages such as influential military strategist Zeng Guofan and brilliant Taiping leader Hong Rengan.
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InTOLerable Reader
- By Adam on 07-07-12
By: Stephen R. Platt
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Empress Dowager Cixi
- The Concubine Who Launched Modern China
- By: Jung Chang
- Narrated by: Jolene Kim
- Length: 16 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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At the age of 16, in a nationwide selection for royal consorts, Cixi was chosen as one of the emperor's numerous concubines. When he died in 1861, their five-year-old son succeeded to the throne. Cixi at once launched a palace coup against the regents appointed by her husband and made herself the real ruler of China - behind the throne, literally, with a silk screen separating her from her officials who were all male.
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An insult to audiobooks. Get a print version.
- By Reademandweep on 02-23-15
By: Jung Chang
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Napoleon
- By: J. Christopher Herold
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Napoleon Bonaparte's rise from common origins to the pinnacle of power, as well as his defeat at Waterloo, still influences our daily lives, from the map of Europe to the metric system. Here's the fascinating story of the great soldier-statesman.
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modern and cynical history of Napoleon
- By Mavs on 06-21-18
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Ibn Saud
- The Desert Warrior Who Created the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
- By: Michael Darlow, Barbara Bray
- Narrated by: Brian Bascle
- Length: 21 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Ibn Saud grew to manhood living the harsh traditional life of the desert nomad, a life that had changed little since the days of Abraham. Equipped with immense physical courage, he fought and won, often with weapons and tactics not unlike those employed by the ancient Assyrians, a series of astonishing military victories over a succession of enemies much more powerful than himself. Over the same period, he transformed himself from a minor sheikh into a revered king and elder statesman, courted by world leaders such as Churchill and Roosevelt.
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Short-est Way to Learn about the Modern Day Saudia
- By Shah Alam on 02-18-14
By: Michael Darlow, and others
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Indian Summer
- The Secret History of the End of an Empire
- By: Alex von Tunzelmann
- Narrated by: Nicola Barber
- Length: 15 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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At the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947, the British Empire withdrew from India, igniting the exhilaration and turmoil of a newly free society. In this vivid, atmospheric popular history, Alex von Tunzelmann chronicles these times through the most prominent figures.
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Such an interesting piece of History made easy
- By Diego on 01-23-12
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Gandhi & Churchill
- By: Arthur Herman
- Narrated by: John Curless
- Length: 29 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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In this fast-paced epic, best-selling historian and master storyteller Arthur Herman spotlights two giants of the 20th century. Gandhi & Churchill shows how their 40-year rivalry revolutionized India and the British Empire, paving the way for a new era. Gandhi championed India's independence, Churchill the British Empire.
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A motif that works well
- By Maine Dave on 11-30-09
By: Arthur Herman
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Eminence
- Cardinal Richelieu and the Rise of France
- By: Jean-Vincent Blanchard
- Narrated by: Mary Kane
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Chief minister to King Louis XIII, Cardinal Richelieu was the architect of a new France in the 17th century, and the force behind the nation's rise as a European power. Among the first statesmen to clearly understand the necessity of a balance of powers, he was one of the early realist politicians, practicing in the wake of Niccol Machiavelli. Truly larger than life, he has captured the imagination of generations, both through his own story and through his portrayal as a ruthless political mastermind in Alexandre Dumas's classic The Three Musketeers.
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Great story boringly told
- By pete k on 09-19-16
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The Innocence of Kaiser Wilhelm II
- And the First World War
- By: Christina Croft
- Narrated by: Jack Wynters
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Almost a century after the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, Kaiser Wilhelm II is still viewed as either a warmonger or a madman, as the hundred-year-old propaganda posters remain fixed in the general consciousness. Was he, though, truly responsible for the catastrophe of the First World War, or was he in fact a convenient scapegoat, blamed for a conflict which he desperately tried to avoid?
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Really make you re-think what your were told
- By Andrew Marsh on 11-09-18
By: Christina Croft
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Augustus
- First Emperor of Rome
- By: Adrian Goldsworthy
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 18 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Caesar Augustus's story, one of the most riveting in western history, is filled with drama and contradiction, risky gambles and unexpected success. He began as a teenage warlord, whose only claim to power was as the heir of the murdered Julius Caesar. Mark Antony dubbed him "a boy who owes everything to a name," but in the years to come the youth outmaneuvered all the older and more experienced politicians and was the last man standing in 30 BC.
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You know my name...say it.
- By Steven on 12-10-14
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The Thirty Years War
- By: C. V. Wedgwood
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 19 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Initially, the Thirty Years War was precipitated in 1618 by religious conflicts between Protestants and Catholics in the Holy Roman Empire. But the conflict soon spread beyond religion to encompass the internal politics and balance of power within the Empire, and then later to the other European powers. By the end, it became simply a dynastic struggle between Bourbon France and Habsburg Spain. And almost all of it was fought out in Germany. Entire regions were depopulated and destroyed.
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One of the World's Great History Books.
- By Judith A. Weller on 08-25-12
By: C. V. Wedgwood
What listeners say about China Only Yesterday: 1850-1950
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Gilberto Cintron
- 06-10-20
Fantastic readinng
This is a captivating narrative of a key century of China's history. The story is captivating and the narration excellent!
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- John
- 04-23-17
Great coverage, especially of 19th century
Great coverage, especially of 19th century, of China and how it interacted with Western countries
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- Wandering
- 10-25-17
Excellent, Entertaining Overview. Very Well Read
I have read this history years ago, so I wanted a good general review of this era to go along with books I am reading about Japan's struggle with the West during the same period. I was well satisfied. This book is fair and well written. I love her reference to Westerners as "barbarians". The narration is also excellent. It needed to be a woman's voice as the author is a woman, and one who can pronounce all the Chinese names.
One Amazon reviewer complained that in the final chapters Ms. Hahn was overly influenced by mid-20th century American anti-communism. I don't agree. On occasion Ms. Hahn descends into mild sarcasm when describing Communist "re-education" in the 1930s -- she describes it as brainwashing, which is not unfair -- and the over-romanticized view of the communists in some quarters of the American media during the 1930s and 40s, again not unfair. Yet her overall assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the communists and the Kuomintang is fair and accurate. There is no sense that CCP won in the end for any reason other than their inherent superiority to the KMT.
Its a pity that more of her books are not available in Audio, as many have been re-issued for Kindle.
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