Marrow of the Nation: A History of Sport and Physical Culture in Republican China »

Andrew D. Morris is Associate Professor of History at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

"This is the first book about how new ideas of sport and the body shaped the Chinese nation in its early formative years. It is a much-needed contribution toward understanding the origins of China's long quest to host the Olympic Games. This engaging book presents little-known material gleaned with great skill from archives in China, Taiwan, and the U.S.
Informed by current theoretical debates, it pulls together in a sophisticated way the pieces of the complex relationship between the body and the nation in China, and it offers creative interpretations of this pivotal period in Chinese history."—Susan Brownell, author of Training the Body for China: Sports in the Moral Order of the People's Republic

"Andrew Morris gives us a clear and compelling account of the origins of modern sports in China. As reigning authority on the topic he is an ideal guide to the complexity and power of organized sports in Chinese social, cultural, and political life. An outstanding work that provides welcome historical background and invaluable insights in the run-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics."—David Strand, author of Rickshaw Beijing: City People and Politics in the 1920s