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The Chinese Journals of L K Little, 194354

An Eyewitness Account of War and Revolution
Editor: Chihyun Chang
Consultant Editor: Akira Iriye
The Making of Modern China
3 Volume Set: c.1200pp: December 2015
978 1 84893 487 0: 234x156mm: 350/$625

Lester Knox Little (18921981) was a key player in

mid-twentieth-century Sino-American relations.
The last foreign Inspector-General at the Chinese
Maritime Customs Service, he witnessed at close
quarters the end of the colonial era and the
formation of the Communist state. Arriving in
Chongqing in 1943 Little was the only American
at the Inspectorate. As a central figure in wartime
China, he held regular meetings with Chinese
generals and British and American ambassadors, as
well as visiting dignitaries.
Little kept a detailed journal of his time in China
and Taiwan. Covering the years 1943 to 1954 it
provides rich new materials for understanding
conditions in Chongqing and post-war Shanghai
and those involved in reconstructing post-war
China, as well as allowing a unique insight into the
heart of government during a time of intense social
and political change.
Volume 1 contains his journals from March 1943 to
December 1945 when he was based in Chongqing
at the Inspectorate. Little records life during World
War II and the preparations for rehabilitating the
Shanghai Inspectorate during 1945. Volume 2
covers Littles time in Shanghai and later, Canton
and Taipei. These years are characterized by his
frustrations in trying to ameliorate Sino-American
relations at the end of the Nationalist period. In
1951 he moved to Taiwan to work as Financial
Adviser to the Ministry of Finance. Volume 3 covers
his advisory career in Nationalist Taiwan, and
includes his discussions with friends concerning
the political situation in China.

Chinese Red Cross nurses tend to wounded soldiers at the

Chongqing (Chunking) front during the war with Japan, 1943
Robert Hunt Library/Mary Evans Picture Library

As an uncensored record of a turbulent time, the

diaries of L K Little are an unrivalled resource for
all scholars of modern Chinese history.

Volumes are made up of previously

unpublished material, held privately

Diaries provide a first-hand account of a

critical time in Chinese history

Editorial apparatus includes a substantial

general introduction, volume introductions,
endnotes and a complete glossary of Chinese
and English names

A consolidated index appears in the final

volume

Editors
Chihyun Chang is at Shanghai Jiao Tong
University
Akira Iriye is at the Reischauer Institute of
Japanese Studies, Harvard University

PICKERING & CHATTO

PUBLISHERS

Sample pages can be found at www.pickeringchatto.com/little

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