Leung Edwin Pak-wah. Political Leaders of Modern China: A Biographical Dictionary

Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002. — 279 p.Covering leaders from the period of the Opium Wars (1839-1842) to the beginning of the twenty-first century - the late Imperial, Republican, and Communist eras. This volume is a very useful reference for anyone studying modern Chinese history. Some 30 scholars contributed the 100 entries, which are one to four pages in length and provide the reader with basic background information along with detailed accounts of the individuals' political careers. Only a handful of leaders, such as Mao Zedong, Puyi, and Zhou Enlai, will be familiar to general readers and are easy to find in other standard reference sources. The names are given in pinyin in Chinese name order, though other well-known transliterations of names (such as Chiang Kai-shek for Jiang Jieshi) are noted. A glossary provides the Chinese characters for the names. A useful 28-page chronology and a list of leaders sorted by period are also appended. Each entry includes a list of references, many of which are in Chinese. English-language works are listed in the general bibliography.
Though most of those who are profiled had an official government role, there are entries for individuals who influenced politics in other ways. Examples include Chen Baochen, tutor to Puyi, and Yan Xishan, a Republican-era warlord, among others. Some local leaders are also here. Many readers of Chinese history find that the array of unfamiliar names can be daunting. For those readers, this dictionary should be a welcome tool.