ABSTRACT
This chapter covers the process that saw the masses of population raised to the position of main historical subjects both in Britain and China. In the case of Britain, these were motivated by the success of the accounts of John Richard Green, the introduction of Darwinism and the increasing development of new approaches to the study of the past such as statistical analysis and social history. In China, these projects were mediated by the influential translations of Social Darwinism of Yan Fu and the attacks against traditional historiography of Liang Qichao. The chapter evidences the extent to which historical practices in both societies evolved during this period so as to take for granted the paramount role of the masses in historical processes.
