The Search for Modern China

By: Jonathan D. Spence

Narrated by: Frederick Davidson

The history of China is as rich and strange as that of any country on earth. Yet for many, China’s history remains unknown, or known only through the stylized images that generations in the West have cherished or reviled as truth.

With his command of character and event - the product of 30 years of research and reflection in the field - Spence dispels those myths in a powerful narrative. Over four centuries of Chinese history, from the waning days of the once-glorious Ming Dynasty to Deng Xiaoping’s bloody suppression of the pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square, Spence fashions the astonishing story of the effort to achieve a modern China. Through the ideas and emotions of its reformist Confucian scholars, its poets, novelists, artists, and visionary students, we see one of the world’s oldest cultures struggling to define itself as Chinese and modern.

©1990 Jonathan D. Spence (P)2000 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“To understand…China’s past there is no better place to start than Jonathan D. Spence’s excellent new book.” ( New York Times Book Review)

“Monumental…History that is always lively, always concrete, always comprehensible.” ( New York Times)

“Rich and dramatic…A pleasure to read, as well as being immensely informative.” ( San Francisco Chronicle)

Don’t read tables please

Could have done without literally reading tables aloud. Just summarize the trends in the tables.

bad narrator!

Why pick someone who can’t pronounce chinese names to read a book about chinese history? Book is fantastic

Excellent book, lazy narrator

This is a classic textbook on early modern and modern Chinese history. I've very happy to see it finally appearing in audio form, and I hope there are more on the way.

I have one complaint: The pronunciation of most of the Chinese names is so wrong that the reader might as well be making up random noises. For example, "zhou" is pronounced "joe," not "zoo," and it matters because "zhou" appears in the names of most Chinese geographic locations outside Beijing and Shanghai. It would take 10 minutes for the reader to learn the absolute basics of how to pronounce Chinese names. By being too lazy to take those 10 minutes, the next 20? 30? hours of audio lose much of their value for any listener who hopes actually to learn something.

Great Narration, Bad Pronunciation

The book is amazing. The narration perfect, at least when using English words. The pronunciation of the Chinese words is very incorrect and distracting if you are familiar with Chinese. With that minor caveat, I heartily recommend this book.

Great history, distractingly terrible pronunciatio

Classic in modern Chinese history but I would have gladly exchanged Davidson's posh RP narration for literally any other narrator who knew how to pronounce Chinese names.

An undisputed classic

This book is epic, narrative history at its absolute best, as it traces the history of China from the time of the late Ming until the present day. In its best moments, it evokes the likes of Edward Gibbon, as we follow the rise and fall of the larger-than-life personalities, from the Chongzheng Emperor to Deng Xiaoping, that dot the historical landscape of the Middle Kingdom. This is one of those rare historical tomes that I would recommend to anyone, regardless of whether one's interest in Chinese history is professional or casual, and regardless of one's level of scholarship. In short, this is a classic of Chinese history, and even, dare I say, a classic of narrative history.

The performance is solid as well, but has some serious problems. Although the reader never lost my attention, his pronunciation of Chinese names is inconsistent and, more often than not, incorrect. The audible edition is nonetheless worth spending a credit on, and comes highly recommended.

Cringeworthy pronunciations of Chinese terms

The male narrator has a magisterial nonrotic British accent suitable for this sweeping history, but the way he botches Chinese terms is distracting and confusing, all the more so for being so easily preventable with a bit of coaching. He apparently has no understanding whatsoever of how pinyin works. Get ready for Empress Dowager KEE-shee, Chen DUK-show, LUK-sion (Lu Xun!), HEE-bayee (Hebei) and other atrocities.

As for the book, it’s good. Spence had lately fashioned himself an annoying belle lettrist, but not yet here.

Pronunciations of Chinese names are insultingly bad

This book is just obscene.
The reader is using a posh voice that is clearly mad about the resulting loss of the Opium wars.
His incapable or directly malicious pronunciation of names, both places and people is simply unacceptable.
Frederick Davidson: You have done a disservice to history by providing such an abominable reading.
It’s embarrassing, on behalf of Western Culture, that we are still this incapable of moving on.
I wonder if this guy is still sore about “Burma” as well.
AMAZON: PLEASE REDO THIS BOOK.
NEW READER PLEASE.
The book itself is a powerfully important and valuable one, written by a remarkably notable historian. To hear it in such a format is sad.
I’ll be returning this directly. I simply cannot continue listening to it.

Narrator Pronunciation Problems

This was a fantastic book. The courage of Chinese resistors against domestic authoritarianism and foreign invasion is inspiring. My criticism is the narration. It can't take more than a day or two to learn to pronounce pinyin. Yet, the narrator consistently mispronounced names and places, often mangling them so badly that I couldn't tell to whom or where he was actually referring.

Good book, Horrible Narration

This is by far the worst narration I have ever experienced. His pronunciation was terrible not only of Chinese names and places but also of Russian, German and others. Even worse, he was inconsistent in his mispronunciation. In a five minute setting you can hear 3 or 4 different pronunciations of the same name. Beyond this, the narrator sounded bored or arrogant. Perhaps he might have a niche career as an aristocrat villain in period pieces, but he has no business reading books.