The Collapse of China (Revised Edition)

This book uses a large number of Qing Dynasty memorials collected by China's First Historical Archives, Sino-British negotiation documents collected in the UK, and data collections compiled by Japanese scholars, etc., to examine and reconstruct a large number of basic historical facts related to the war in detail. The author seizes several main characters as clues to start the narrative. From weapons and equipment, fortifications, soldier training to the use of combat tactics; from logistics, troop mobilization, troop transfer to the source, collection and distribution of military expenditures, it also involves the economic strength of the belligerent countries that can be used for war, the mentality of those responsible for strategizing, and their Views of war (from a cultural perspective), tactical views (from a military perspective) and so on. These aspects were either neglected or unclear in the past research on the Opium War, but they are fully displayed in this book.

The Opium War had a great impact on modern Chinese history, and it was also the beginning of a century of national humiliation for China, which brought huge spiritual trauma to the Chinese nation. The evaluation of people and events at that time in this book is based on factual identification, especially the serious review of the Qing Dynasty. The celestial mentality presented in the memorial directly points to the underlying reasons for China's defeat. The rigorous argument shown in the book breaks the academicity of past mistakes and the strong patriotism to avoid repeating historical mistakes, which is shocking and moving to read.

"The Collapse of the Celestial Empire" has been published for more than ten years. It has been widely circulated and has a great influence. Its academic value has gone through the test of time and has been widely praised by readers. That is, it has become widely read by scholars, students, and ordinary people studying modern history overseas. His works are regarded as the most representative works in the study of modern Chinese history.

The revised edition comprehensively checks the errors in the annotations and quotations, rearranges the hardcover, and is included in the reissue of the "Twenty Years Commemorative Edition of Triple Harvard Academic Series".