A Passion for Facts

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In this path-breaking book, Tong Lam examines the emergence of the ''culture of fact'' in modern China, showing how elites and intellectuals sought to transform the dynastic empire into a nation-state, thereby ensuring its survival. Lam argues that an epistemological break away from traditional modes of understanding the observable world began around the turn of the twentieth century. Tracing the Neo-Confucian school of evidentiary research and the modern departure from it, Lam shows how, through the rise of the social survey, ''the fact'' became a basic conceptual medium and source of truth. In focusing on China's social survey movement, A Passion for Facts analyzes how information generated by a range of research practices—census, sociological investigation, and ethnography—was mobilized by competing political factions to imagine, manage, and remake the nation. Recensie(s)| 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 Bks In East Asian Stds Tong Lam's rich and provocative [study] should be of interest to all scholars of China. -- Sigrid Schmalzer American Historical Review Readers will find A Passion for Facts compellingly written, thoroughly researched, and thought-provoking. -- Maggie Clinton, Middlebury College The China Beat [A] rich, persuasive study. -- Robert Culp Cross-Currents Ingenious... Scholars of China as well as scholars outside that field will find much of interest in [Lam's] book. -- Q. Edward Wang Journal of Interdisciplinary History [A] rich and sensitive exploration of social knowledge production in modern China... Lam's intensive and engaging book ... inspires readers to think of more questions and thus opens more topics for future research. -- Yu-ling Huang East Asian Science, Technology and Society This is an important book. It is well researched, concisely written, and intellectually ambitious... Lam's excellent book deserves to be widely read. -- Fati Fan The Journal of Asian Studies An engaging study... It is a major contribution to our understanding of the multifarious processes of nationbuilding. -- Jennifer E. Altehenger The China Quarterly

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