In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the China Historical Society presided over a large-scale compilation of research materials on China's modern history. At that time, almost all famous historians in China participated in the compilation. Its long compilation time, huge manpower, material resources and financial resources, large scale, wide scope and far-reaching influence are unparalleled in the field of modern history book compilation in China, and it is also the material that scholars studying modern history must read and consult, so there is no need to say much about the role of this book.

China Modern History Data Series is also the representative work of China Historical Society. The series includes Boxer Rebellion, Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Hui Uprising, Reform Movement of 1898, Opium War, Sino-French War, Sino-Japanese War, Revolution of 1911, Nian Army, Westernization Movement, Second Opium War and Beiyang Warlords. Except for the last two books, all other 10 books were published from 195 1 to 1958. Later, it was reprinted once or twice by Zhonghua Book Company and Shenzhou Guoguang Publishing House, and the book was never published again. At present, most of them are collected by university libraries, the central and provincial and municipal departments of social science, literature and history, and there are few private collections. As for the reason why this book is no longer published, it must be related to the retrogression of humanities today.