TONG LAM
A PASSION FOR FACTS
SOCIAL SURVEYS AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE CHINESE NATION-STATE, 1900-1949
SOCIAL SURVEYS AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE CHINESE NATION-STATE, 1900-1949
Published by the University of California Press 2011
In the turn of the twentieth century, as a result of China’s ongoing domestic unrest and foreign encroachments, Chinese intellectual-elites worked to transform the dynastic empire into a nation-state to ensure its survival. Central to this process was not only political and institutional changes, but also new technologies of government that entailed drastically different ways of thinking about what was considered as legitimate knowledge and admissible evidence. This involved particularly the rise of the social survey as a pivotal mode of knowledge production, as well as “the fact” as a basic conceptual medium and source of truth about the world.
Focusing especially on the history of the Chinese social survey movement in the first half of the twentieth century, this book analyzes how social facts generated by a diverse range of survey practices such as census, sociological investigation, and ethnography were mobilized by competing political factions to imagine, manage, and remake the nation. It also shows how the production of social facts was itself a mass mobilization that involved not just the training of credible observers but also the making of new political subjects.
By placing this previously unexamined dimension of Chinese history in a global context, A Passion for Facts is a study of the histories of science, sentiment, colonialism, nationalism, and modern governance. As well, it sheds lights on the unusual pattern of political and economic development in China’s post-revolutionary era.
Focusing especially on the history of the Chinese social survey movement in the first half of the twentieth century, this book analyzes how social facts generated by a diverse range of survey practices such as census, sociological investigation, and ethnography were mobilized by competing political factions to imagine, manage, and remake the nation. It also shows how the production of social facts was itself a mass mobilization that involved not just the training of credible observers but also the making of new political subjects.
By placing this previously unexamined dimension of Chinese history in a global context, A Passion for Facts is a study of the histories of science, sentiment, colonialism, nationalism, and modern governance. As well, it sheds lights on the unusual pattern of political and economic development in China’s post-revolutionary era.
Cover image: A propaganda billboard during the 2010 census campaign with one of Beijing's historic city gates in the background.
BACKGROUND STORY
My first interest in the question of the fact, especially the social fact, began with... more
REVIEWS
“This fascinating book is a fundamental contribution to the global history of social science. Tong Lam demonstrates how Chinese reformers struggled to build a modern society on a foundation of facts and statistics. Their ambitions were no mere dream, but were made real in a prodigious social survey movement which aimed as much to enlighten peasants as to inform administrators.” —Theodore Porter, author of Trust in Numbers
“Lam’s approach is highly original. A Passion for Facts presents an impressive host of new material from Chinese and American archives that challenges interpretations of China and Chinese exceptionalism or independent development. Lam makes a compelling argument that the techniques developed in the early twentieth century and refined over several decades have been critical to state-building in China.” —James L. Hevia, author of English Lessons: The Pedagogy of Imperialism in Nineteenth Century China
“Lam supersedes the current ‘China-centered approach’ and the earlier framework that explained ‘modern China’ in light of global colonialism. He illuminates how the search for ‘facts’ empowered modern Chinese to reimagine their social and political realities in a global colonial context.” —Benjamin A. Elman, Chair, East Asian Studies Department, Princeton University
"Tong Lam's rich and provocative [study] should be of interest to all scholars of China, and because Lam engages so seriously with such an impressive range of secondary literatures, his work should also attract historians focusing on science, colonialism, modernity, and the state in other areas of the world as well."—American Historical Review
"A rich and focused work that will appeal to anyone interested in the ways that the concept of the modern nation is shaped by the histories of science, soulstealing, society, and sentiment."—New Books In East Asian Studies
"Readers will find A Passion for Facts compellingly written, thoroughly researched, and thought-provoking."—The China Beat/Twentieth-Century China
"The author's ingenuity is also evidence in his examination of the emergence of the 'social survey movement' as a global event, thereby linking nation-building in China with the rise of scientism in other regions and countries... Scholars of China as well as scholars outside that field will find much of interest in the book."—Journal of Interdisciplinary History
"Lam's study provides a much-needed critical evaluation of survey data from this period that scholars today continue to use as value-neutral empirical facts..."—Chinese Historical Review
"Rich, persuasive studies [that] open new avenues of inquiry for the second half of the twentieth century."—Cross-Currents
WORD CLOUDS
Chapter One
Chapter Three
Epilogue
“This fascinating book is a fundamental contribution to the global history of social science. Tong Lam demonstrates how Chinese reformers struggled to build a modern society on a foundation of facts and statistics. Their ambitions were no mere dream, but were made real in a prodigious social survey movement which aimed as much to enlighten peasants as to inform administrators.” —Theodore Porter, author of Trust in Numbers
“Lam’s approach is highly original. A Passion for Facts presents an impressive host of new material from Chinese and American archives that challenges interpretations of China and Chinese exceptionalism or independent development. Lam makes a compelling argument that the techniques developed in the early twentieth century and refined over several decades have been critical to state-building in China.” —James L. Hevia, author of English Lessons: The Pedagogy of Imperialism in Nineteenth Century China
“Lam supersedes the current ‘China-centered approach’ and the earlier framework that explained ‘modern China’ in light of global colonialism. He illuminates how the search for ‘facts’ empowered modern Chinese to reimagine their social and political realities in a global colonial context.” —Benjamin A. Elman, Chair, East Asian Studies Department, Princeton University
"Tong Lam's rich and provocative [study] should be of interest to all scholars of China, and because Lam engages so seriously with such an impressive range of secondary literatures, his work should also attract historians focusing on science, colonialism, modernity, and the state in other areas of the world as well."—American Historical Review
"A rich and focused work that will appeal to anyone interested in the ways that the concept of the modern nation is shaped by the histories of science, soulstealing, society, and sentiment."—New Books In East Asian Studies
"Readers will find A Passion for Facts compellingly written, thoroughly researched, and thought-provoking."—The China Beat/Twentieth-Century China
"The author's ingenuity is also evidence in his examination of the emergence of the 'social survey movement' as a global event, thereby linking nation-building in China with the rise of scientism in other regions and countries... Scholars of China as well as scholars outside that field will find much of interest in the book."—Journal of Interdisciplinary History
"Lam's study provides a much-needed critical evaluation of survey data from this period that scholars today continue to use as value-neutral empirical facts..."—Chinese Historical Review
"Rich, persuasive studies [that] open new avenues of inquiry for the second half of the twentieth century."—Cross-Currents
WORD CLOUDS
Chapter One
Chapter Three
Epilogue