User:WhisperToMe/The Strenuous Decade

The Strenuous decade : China's nation-building efforts, 1927-1937 is a non-fiction book edited by Paul K. T. Sih (Paul Kwang Tsien), published in 1970 by St. John's University Press.

The work contains nine papers that collectively argue that the nation-building done in the titular decade was crucial to winning the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Background
In 1969 St. John's held a symposium on whether the Republic of China would have survived the Second Sino-Japanese War if it had not done nation-building work in the 10 years prior to the official start of the war.

The university began the "Asia in the Modern World Series" in 1962, and the book is a part of the series.

Reception
John H. Boyle of California State University, Chico wrote that "Asia in the Modern World Series" "has thus far not enjoyed a distinguished reputation among China specialists."