近代
Meaning
- the not-very-distant past
- modern times, excluding recent decades
- (in the context of Chinese history) the period from the Opium Wars until the May 4th Movement (mid-19th century to 1919)
Example sentence
这是一段近代的历史。
This is a piece of modern history.
Characters in 近代
近 near plus 代, an era. 代 gives 现代 and 古代; the era nearest before the modern one.