The Making of the Republican Citizen

What does it mean to be Chinese? How did the major political events of the early 20th century affect the everyday lives of ordinary people in China? This book uses a wealth of new sources, including newspapers, memoirs, interviews, and photographs, to look at the political history of the period and to understand the ways in which politics intersected with the thoughts and feelings of ordinary people. To be a modern citizen of the Chinese republic meant repudiating much of the very ritual that had previously defined one as Chinese. As we follow the changes in everyday life, ranging from the unbinding of women's feet to the commemoration of the events of the a new republican history, we see the complex interactions between an ever more activist state and its new citizens.

Review:

Henrietta Harrison's account gives new meaning to many events in the period ... Her exemplary and painstaking research is presented in a delightful and highly readable style Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society An elegant and masterful investigation of the Republic as a symbolic enterprise and ritual parade ground ... Henrietta Harrison's book creates its own perspective and establishes a coherence and insight beyond existing historiography on the period Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society A welcome addition to a growing scholarly literature ... makes a convincing case for the rapid emergence and consolidation of a surprisingly coherent complex of new symbols of modern nationhood ... a substantial addition to the field The China Journal An excellent addition to the growing number of works examining the cultural dimensions of Chinese politics ... fascinating details China Quarterly Harrison has accomplished much in his work that will interest China historians, anthropologists and comparative scholars China Quarterly