2024 CHUS Academic Excellence Book Award
Dr. Chen Jian’s monograph — Zhou Enlai: A Life (Harvard University Press, 2024).
This 800-page biography offers a nuanced and compelling portrait of Zhou Enlai, a pivotal figure in modern Chinese history, the PRC’s first premier, and a world-renowned diplomat. Drawing from an impressive array of sources spanning China, the USA, Russia, and India, Chen crafts a comprehensive narrative of Zhou’s life, tracing his journey from his early years to his final days. By examining the paradoxes of Zhou’s character within the complex historical contexts he navigated, the author delivers a balanced and insightful assessment of this extraordinary statesman. Meticulously structured and expertly written, the book employs a longue-durée perspective to illuminate China’s dramatic transformation from the late Qing dynasty to the Mao era. A must-read for those interested in modern China, diplomacy, and international relations, this work stands as a definitive account of Zhou’s enduring legacy.
Honorable Mention: Dr. Hanchao Lu’s monograph — The Shanghai Tai Chi: The Art of Being Ruled in Mao’s China (Cambridge University Press, 2023).
Skillfully drawing from an extensive array of primary sources, Shanghai Taichi offers a rich and engaging narrative of the material world of the bourgeois under a politically adverse environment during the early decades of the PRC. It explores the intellectual contributions of the educated elites from the “old world,” the youth’s engagement with taboo literature, and the rise of women as a workforce, highlighting how women interpreted and enacted their visions of “liberation.” The work challenges the conventional demarcation of Mao’s China and the reform era by portraying the country’s economic rise over the past four decades not as a departure from Mao’s China but rather a drastic continuation of human behavior. The book seamlessly balances rigorous historiographical analysis with accessible and engaging prose, the book serves as a valuable resource for understanding the history of Shanghai, the People’s Republic of China, and the social history of communism.