if we are to give meaning to existing theories and formulate new ones, the experiences of political parties in non-Western societies should be examined. There is another reason for undertaking such a study. The record of the Kuomintang in attempting to organize itself, to capture power, and to reconstruct China has contemporary significance. Certainly the failure of the party movements and democratic governments in Burma, Pakistan, and other newly emerging nations has much in common with the Chinese ex- perience. Furthermore, the Kuomintang's concept of "political tutelage" and the idea of "guided democracy" practiced in many of the new nations express a common thought. Indeed, to a degree, the Chinese experience is being repeated in the Afro-Asian world. The Chinese record, therefore, can help to explain the developments in the new nations. I should like to express my sincere thanks to those who made this study possible. I wish to thank Robert A. Scalapino, Joseph R. Levenson, and Conrad Brandt for their advice and criticism. I am especially indebted to Professor Scalapino, who first sug- gested that I undertake this study and who has seen the study through its various stages. I am also deeply grateful to him for writing the Foreword. Thanks are due to Dr. Leo Rose for reading an earlier draft of the manuscript. My sincere thanks go to my former senior colleague at the University of North Carolina, Frederic N. Cleaveland, whose assistance was very much appreciated. The East Asiatic Library, the Interlibrary Borrowing Service, and the Newspaper Room of the University of California Li- brary, Berkeley have greatly aided me in my search for mate- rials. I am indebted to the Chinese Collection at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. I would like to acknowledge the financial assistance received from the University Research Council of the Graduate School and the Institute for Research in Social Science of the University of North Carolina. Finally, I am grateful to my wife, Priscilla, who has helped and sustained me throughout the writing of this book. Urbana, Illinois GEORGE T. YU -xiv- |