The penguin history of modern China: The fall and rise of a great power, 1850 to the present

Abstract

New edition. Previous edition: London: Allen Lane, 2008. In 1850, China was the 'sick man of Asia'. Now it is set to become the most powerful nation on earth. This book shows how turbulent that journey has been. For 150 years China has endured as victim to brutality on an unmatched scale, to oppression, to war and to famine. This makes its current position as the newest and, arguably, most important global superpower all the more extraordinary. The author's clear and comprehensive account of China's recent past, now updated to take in the eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party in Autumn 2012, is the definitive guide to this remarkable transformation. Part 1. End of empire -- Part 2. Revolution and republic -- Part 3. Wars without end -- Part 4. The rule of Mao -- Part 5. The age of Deng -- Part 6. Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao.