The first general history of modern Chinese social life. From the perspective of social and cultural history, it comprehensively and systematically describes the historical process and panoramic picture of the changes in Chinese social life from 1840 to 1949. In the more than 100 years since the opening of trade after the Opium War to the founding of New China, Chinese society has undergone drastic changes. As the basis of all people's activities, social life is intertwined with changes in politics, economy and culture, which together constitute the modern Chinese society.

This book uses the new research method of ""social and cultural history"", and adopts the cross perspective of social history and cultural history. While narrating the changes of various phenomena in social life and observing the changes of cultural concepts, it avoids the bias of single-level description of social life and the separation of ideas from life. It uses a large number of archives, private collections, old newspapers and periodicals, local chronicles, data compilations and other materials, most of which are excavated by the authors, and many of which are rarely used in the past.

The authors are famous researchers corresponding to various research fields, with long-term professional research and rich academic accumulation.

This book strives to put the changes in material life, social life, cultural life and other aspects into the context of the drastic political and economic changes in modern times, so that the changes in social life are more relevant and the content is more three-dimensional.