{"product_id":"1940-1970s-kwan-hai-lung","title":"1940-1970's KWAN HAI-LUNG. Substantial Archive of Unpublished MSs by Father of Sociology in Taiwan.","description":"\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eAn exceptional archive of the approximately 1500 pages of original, unpublished, and completely unresearched personal papers from the estate of Lung Kwan-hai (\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'MS Gothic'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'MS Gothic';\"\u003e龍冠海\u003c\/span\u003e, 1906–1983), widely recognized as one of the founding fathers of institutional sociology in post-WWII Taiwan.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eA pivotal figure in the development of Taiwanese self-understanding, he was at the same time highly suspicious of the Chinese authoritarian state, but also saw himself and his fellow Taiwanese academics not as non-Chinese, but as a true version of the Chinese legacy. This of course would contrast sharply with the subsequent \"Taiwanization\" (bentuhua) and independence movements that defined the subsequent generation of Taiwanese sociologists.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eLung Kwan-hai is credited with having established Taiwanese sociology when the Nationalist (KMT) government retreated to Taiwan in 1949. Prior to his work, academic sociology was effectively non-existing. The KMT viewed sociology with deep suspicion, associating it with the repressive socialism, Marxism, and left-wing subversion they fled on the mainland. This suspicion was heightened by the number of prominent sociologists who had chosen to stay on the mainland under the Chinese Communist Party.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eTo keep the discipline alive under martial law, Lung steered it away from radical political theory and toward pragmatic, empirical, and structural-functionalist research. He specialized in urban sociology, publishing pioneering empirical studies like the \u003ci\u003eTrends of Urbanization in Taiwan: A Study of Five Cities\u003c\/i\u003e. Additionally, he penned what would become the primary foundational texts of the discipline across the island for decades, including \u003ci\u003eSociology\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eHistory of Social Thought\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eSocial Research Methods\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eIdealogically, he belonged to the classic pre-1949 generation of mainland-born, Western-educated Chinese intellectuals. He studied at Tsinghua, Stanford, and the University of Southern California. His worldview was anchored in Chinese nationalism, identity, and Sun Yat-sen's \u003ci\u003eThree Principles of the People\u003c\/i\u003e. For him, the emerging Taiwanese intellectual tradition which he was helping to pioneer was a remnant of true China. This meant that Taiwan was not a distinct national entity but rather the temporary, democratic bastion of the true Republic of China.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eHe was, however, deeply anti-communist. He frequently wrote about the tragic fates of sociologists who remained in Mainland China, arguing that a sociology rooted in traditional Chinese ethics, democracy, and science could serve as an ideological bulwark against communism.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eToward the end of his life, it became clear him that he was a transitional figure; a necessary bridge to Taiwan’s future, but not the future itself. He could not represent the past; he was too deeply committed to the anti-Communist cause. And he could not represent the future; he was too deeply committed to Taiwan’s Chinese identity. He was in the middle. Eventually criticized by many of the emerging young independents, it was in fact his radical critique of mainland China that led to their emergence.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eBy the late 1970s and 1980s, a younger generation of Taiwanese sociologists returned from overseas, many, paradoxically, influenced by Western neo-Marxism, dependency theory, and social movement dynamics. Following Lung’s death in 1983 and the lifting of martial law in 1987, Taiwanese sociology underwent a massive paradigm shift known as Taiwanization. The new sociology was focused exclusively to Taiwan as an independent unit of analysis, distinct from China.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThey began investigating the exact topics that were taboo during Lung's era. KMT state authoritarianism and human rights abuses. The explicit social engineering of a \"Chinese identity\" over a native Taiwanese identity. The sociology of Taiwanese social movements, ethnic identity allocation, and the transition toward explicit democratization and de facto independence. Toward the end of his life, Lung openly admitted to his students (such as Yeh Chih-cheng) that the field was moving past him, gesturing to his bookshelf and noting that his frameworks had become \"too old\" and \"left behind.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe documents, as mentioned, are completely unsorted. We note papers presented at various forums; what appear to be working chapters and drafts for lectures and books; letters from eminent then present and future sociologists, many of whom are Taiwanese studying or lecturing abroad; correspondence with various universities, including Cal-Berkeley, Stanford, Princeton, etc.; his notes recorded on reading Engels and Marx; various graphs and charts illustrations ways of constructing and understanding Taiwanese society; apparently a few colleague or student papers he has kept [presumably because they contribute to his thought]; and a small handful of printed material, seemingly small prints of academic sociological papers. These papers range almost the entirety of his career, dating from the 1940's up through the mid-1970's and include documents in both English and Mandarin, with Mandarin being the greater proportion. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eCondition is as you see. We have made no effort to sort, organize, or repair \/ conserve these papers. They were with a family member in a box from the time of his death until we acquired them in 2025.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Specs Fine Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44231060226084,"sku":null,"price":2750.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0093\/3910\/9435\/files\/06-06-2026SpecsFineBooks-2.jpg?v=1780783555","url":"https:\/\/specsfinebooks.com\/products\/1940-1970s-kwan-hai-lung","provider":"Specs Fine Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}