China Reborn, 1895–1912

The master narrative of modern Chinese history has long framed the fall of the Qing empire and the rise of the Republic of China as the inevitable triumph of Chinese nationalism. This nationalist teleology obscures an intricate reality: many of the so-called nationalists were simultaneously localists, whose political pursuits were rooted in the specific crises of their native places and designed to redress them. Nor does it adequately explain why localism—so often a force that toppled old dynasties only to install new ones—suddenly turned against dynastic rule altogether and championed a republic instead. Departing from the familiar sweep of national history, China Reborn, 1895–1912 proposes a trialectic framework—local, national, and transnational—to reinterpret the transformation of the Qing empire. It demonstrates how a new China was born out of the dynamic interplay of localism, nationalism, and imperialism. Combining a social history of the activities of Qing elites educated in Meiji Japan and an intellectual history of their localist pursuits, this book illuminates how Japanese knowledge crossed national boundaries to ignite local changes that ultimately reconfigured the Qing empire. It reveals alternative localist blueprints for China's future embraced by Qing elites. Though never fully realized, these imaginaries shaped the contours of Republican China and continue to remind us of the alternative paths not taken in China's rebirth.