It is difficult to overestimate the relevance of O. E. Nepomnin's monograph" The History of China. XX century". (Moscow, 2011, 725 p.). This study analyzes the complex and difficult process of formation and evolution of a transitional society in this country. On the basis of a large factual material, the development of China over a hundred years is shown, and the specifics of socio-economic and political processes of this period are analyzed. The author of the monograph considers transitivity both as a process and as a long-term state of Chinese society in the context of a multi-sided synthesis of traditional and modern principles in their complex interaction.

The author's approach is characterized by independence and novelty.

This monograph significantly differs from all previous works of historians in the vision of the historical process. Usually, the history of twentieth-century China is considered primarily as a series of revolutions and uprisings (the Yihetuan Uprising*, the Xinhai Revolution, the Revolution of 1925-1927, the People's Revolution of 1947-1949, also known as the National Revolution). To the same extent, all the periods between these revolutions are considered only from the point of view of political movements (national liberation, conscious democratic, revolutionary struggle under the slogan of Soviets, etc.). This kind of "revolutionary" concept is characteristic of both Chinese and Soviet historians.

In contrast, the author of the monograph considers the history of twentieth-century China not as a series of revolutions, but as a complex social state, as a systemic phenomenon in its specific development.

Thus, the author avoids classifying the Yihetuan movement as a "rebellion". Equally, the author does not apply the term "revolution" to the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty in 1911. (Xinhai Revolution), as well as to the intensification of the struggle against imperialism and militarism in 1925-1927.

Until recently, Soviet historians considered the armed struggle against the Kuomintang under the leadership of the Communist Party (1927-1949) as a "civil war", "revolutionary struggle under the slogan of the Soviets", "people's liberation war", "people's revolution", etc.The author of this monograph qualifies this epic as a Peasant war led by Communists. This interpretation seems to be very close to the essence of this phenomenon.

In his opinion, the struggle of the Communists against the Kuomintang and the creation of the People's Army were the last peasant war in the history of China. In the light of this new concept, Mao Zedong appears as the leader of a semi - traditional (transitional) peasant war, and the Chinese Soviet system as a "peasant power", and the army under the leadership of the Communist Party as a "peasant army". It is the traditional peasant character of this struggle that the author explains the collapse of the Communist attitudes and practices of Soviet Marxism, because they did not fit well with the traditional specifics of the transitional society in China.

The concept of a new peasant war, on the one hand, is innovative and extremely interesting, but on the other hand, it suggests the need for discussion on this issue.

In this regard, a new periodization is also given. It is not subordinate to the revolutionary struggle, but considers it as part of the general historical social evolution of the country, as one of the components within the framework of a systematic approach to history. This results in an objective approach to the subject of study, and with it a more realistic periodization of the historical process.

In addition, the Chinese and Soviet historical schools tend to focus on the party's origins and party leaders. We are talking about Sun Yat-sen and the Chinese Renaissance Alliance, the Comintern, the Chinese Communist Party and Mao Zedong.

It was this "party principle" that became another core around which the presentation of the history of twentieth-century China was built. Fitting the entire social evolution to the Procrustean party bed has until recently prevailed in the works of both Chinese and Soviet historians. The author of this monograph avoided such a deliberate bias in party history and subordinated this party theme to a general historical and systemic principle.

In contrast to the works of other authors, this monograph analyzes in detail and comprehensively.-

* The Yihetuan, or Boxer, "uprising" in Northern China (1899-1902) - a revolt against foreign intervention, suppressed by the troops of European powers and Japan (editor's note).

There is such a phenomenon as Chinese militarism. This is extremely important for understanding the socio-political nature of the Kuomintang regime, because it grew up on the same historical ground and became, as it were, a centralized all-Chinese version of this militarism, which, among other things, also created a party organization.

Until recently, two important historical periods - the Beiyang period (1912-1927) and the Kuomintang period (1927-1949) - served either as a common background or as connecting moments between revolutions and bursts of political struggle. Having avoided the dominance of the revolutionary and party concepts, the author of this monograph was able to show them within the framework of the general historical evolution of the country as complex phenomena with their own historical specifics.

In works on the history of twentieth-century China, the Kuomintang period is usually reduced to the formation of Soviet districts and the civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communists. In contrast to this approach, the book under review provides a comprehensive coverage of the history of China at that time. The article shows the political and military structure of the Kuomintang, its ideology and the internal party struggle inherent in it. The Kuomintang economy is seen as a complex and contradictory synthesis of traditional and capitalist principles, and the Kuomintang regime is seen as another stage in the evolution of traditional Chinese despotism in new conditions.

An innovative aspect of the book under review is the consideration of the history of twentieth-century China in the light of the theory of dynastic-demographic cycles that run through the entire ancient, medieval and modern history of the country. This concept is projected on the evolution of China in recent times. In our opinion, this is a new and controversial approach to the history of twentieth-century China, which raises objections and requires a broad discussion on this issue. Nevertheless, the development of the cyclical theory of Chinese history is in any case a new word in the light of existing concepts, assessments and conclusions on the history of China.

In the reviewed work, much attention is paid to the People's Republic of China. The Communist victory in 1949 is regarded as the end of the peasant war, which began in the late 1920s and went through various stages (the first under the slogan of the Soviets, the second under the occupation of Eastern China by Japan, and the third as the final stage). The author analyzes such a grandiose epic from the point of view of preserving the foundations of the traditional model of Chinese society in the country.

In this connection, the author draws a conclusion about the nature of the Communist Party's power as another modification of Asian despotism under Marxist banners, reflecting one of the main regularities of the functioning of the transformed system of old China in the new conditions. The establishment of such power was the result of a synthesis of traditional and modern principles.

The concept of such a synthesis, unlike the works of its predecessors, allows the author to identify traditional foundations and components in phenomena and events that outwardly seem completely modern. This approach brings the author's conclusions and assessments as close as possible to the real essence of the processes that took place in China in the XX century.

As part of the coverage of the PRC period, the author analyzes the evolution of the political nature of the communist regime. In the first phase of its existence, it emerged as an authoritarian power, then gave way to a totalitarian regime. After the death of Mao Zedong, the dictatorial leader, China returned to the mainstream of an authoritarian political system.

The positive aspects of the work include consideration of the history of the whole of China, i.e. not only the PRC (as it is found in a number of publications), but also the Republic of China on Taiwan. An entire chapter is devoted to the latter. Here, special attention is drawn to the analysis of the socio-economic evolution of Taiwan. In this chapter, the author examines the reasons for the successful rise of the Guo-Mingdang Republic on the island. The author assigns the main role in the development of the "Taiwan miracle" to the transition from the traditional Eastern model, which was used by the Kuomintang until the 1950s, to the Western model of social development. This change of model, according to the author of the book, made it possible to get rid of the dead weight of the outdated traditional system and create all the conditions for the free development of a modern capitalist society.

The reviewed monograph is characterized by a comprehensive approach to the history of twentieth-century China. However, the emphasis is placed on the political component of this process. Apparently, this was the original goal set by the author. The latter coped with this task in full.

At the same time, the economic and social aspects of the topic are too briefly covered. The foreign policy situation around China at that time is also shown in the most general terms. In addition, there is no complete description of the processes that took place in the Chinese culture of this period. We believe that all this is perfectly acceptable in this serial volume of the institute-wide project. However, when reprinting the book, it is necessary to supplement the work with special sections on the above topics.

And one last thing. Unfortunately, the monograph does not reflect the historical processes that took place in the XX century in the national regions of China, among non - Chinese peoples - "subjects of the Middle Kingdom", which had an important impact on the history of this country during this period, primarily in Xinjiang-East Turkestan, Tibet, Inner Mongolia.

The author's unconventional and innovative approach with a number of extremely interesting concepts, propositions and assessments provides an opportunity for Sinologists to take a fresh look at the root problems and processes of the new and recent history of China and creates a good basis for a fruitful discussion.

A. S. KADYRBAEV, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences

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