Gutenberg in Shanghai
Author | : Christopher A. Reed |
Publisher | : UBC Press |
Total Pages | : 414 |
Release | : 2011-11-01 |
ISBN-10 | : 9780774841214 |
ISBN-13 | : 0774841214 |
Rating | : 4/5 (14 Downloads) |
Book excerpt: Relying on documents previously unavailable to both Western and Chinese researchers, this history demonstrates how Western technology and evolving traditional values resulted in the birth of a unique form of print capitalism that would have a far-reaching and irreversible influence on Chinese culture. In the mid-1910s, what historians call the "Golden Age of Chinese Capitalism" began, accompanied by a technological transformation that included the drastic expansion of China's "Gutenberg revolution." This is a vital reevaluation of Chinese modernity that refutes views that China's technological development was slowed by culture or that Chinese modernity was mere cultural continuity.