Who was Jonathan Spence?

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Question: Who was Jonathan Spence?
Option a: 'A British historian and Yale professor who popularized Chinese history in a number of books' – This description aligns with Jonathan D. Spence, who was a prominent historian known for his accessible and influential works on Chinese history and taught at Yale University for many years. The phrasing captures his role as a scholar and educator, and his books helped bring Chinese history to a broad audience.
Option b: 'The former Vice Chancellor of the University of Sydney' – This statement does not fit Spence, as there is no widely known record of Jonathan Spence serving as the Vice Chancellor of the University of Sydney. This is likely a conflation with someone else and is not historically accurate for Spence.
Option c: 'A critic of the Opium War' – While Spence wrote about early modern Chinese history, including periods around the Opium War, labeling him specifically as a "critic" of the Opium War is an oversimplification and does not accurately reflect his scholarly identity, which centers on historical analysis and narrative rather than personal polemics.
Option d: 'An Anglo-Irish actor who played Reginald Fleming Johnston (Pu Yi’s teacher) in the movie “The Last Emperor”' – This is incorrect, as Jonathan Spence was not an actor, nor is there a record of him playing that role; the described person is unrelated to the historian.
In summary, option a accurately identifies Jonathan Spence as a British-born historian and Yale professor renowned for popularizing Chinese history through his numerous books, whereas the other options describe roles or identities that do not correspond to him.

Who was Jonathan Spence?

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