This stimulating collection traces the intellectual trajectory of the field of modern Chinese history over the past two decades. The possibility of conducting research in the People's Republic and directly exchanging views with scholars there has radically altered and increased the material available to historians. The essays also reflect the efforts of a generation of China historians to engage questions that have recently preoccupied historians across national fields. Each essay challenges previous interpretive frameworks. Topics covered include the impact of imperialism on China, the role of women in Chinese history, the meaning of modernity, the relationship between local and national identities, and the significance of the 1949 revolution.