Walking in the Fissures / By Tang Xiaobing

**Yu Ying-shih, Qian Liqun, Sun Longji, Yang Guojiang, Elizabeth J. Perry** **Hu Xiaoming, Sun Ge, Wang Fansen, Wang Qisheng** **Nine Encounters of Intellectual Exchange** **Nine Threads for Understanding 20th-Century China** "The question of truth is, in these exercises, left unresolved from beginning to end; they are concerned only with how to walk in the fissures—perhaps that is the only place where truth can finally appear." — Hannah Arendt "Historians often treat 'hindsight' as an advantage... In reality, such 'hindsight' can easily turn into 'hindsight blindness'." "Thought is the calling of the thinker. In a sense, I am a person caught in a problem, not merely an academic." "The transformation of intellectuals was, overall, coercive, but it also involved conscious and semi-conscious elements, a true 'Chinese characteristic'." "Therefore, China's modernization is destined to evolve and deepen through a process of constant disjuncture." This book offers an unconventional history of 20th-century Chinese thought, unfolding through nine dialogues between Professor Tang Xiaobing and renowned scholars such as Yu Ying-shih, Qian Liqun, Yang Guojiang, and Wang Fansen. They probe the core currents of 20th-century Chinese history and thought from diverse perspectives and with distinct concerns: from the imperial examination system to enlightenment and revolution, from scholars to intellectuals, from the masses to the public... Expansive and exhilarating, it not only presents the academic vision and multifaceted spectrum of thought history researchers but also incorporates their personal life experiences through the dialogue format, thereby recreating the scenes of intellectual practice and knowledge generation. Full Title: Walking in the Fissures: Intellectuals and 20th-Century China Author: Tang Xiaobing (Dialogues) ISBN: 978-988-237-371-6 Binding: Paperback Language: Traditional Chinese Pages: 320 Dimensions: 211 x 143 x 18 mm **About the Author** **Tang Xiaobing** Professor in the Department of History at East China Normal University. His research areas include the history of newspapers and periodicals in the late Qing and Republican eras, and the history of intellectuals; memoirs, oral history, and historical memory in 20th-century China; and left-wing culture and the 20th-century Chinese revolution. He is the author of *Public Opinion in Modern China: A Case Study of the "Weekly Essays" of Ta Kung Pao and the "Free Talk" of Shen Bao* (2012), *Encountering the Republic of China* (2017), *Modern China on the Bookshelf: A Personal Reading History* (2020), among others. He also hosts the audio course "20th-Century China in Memoirs" on the podcast platform "Kan Li Xiang."