This lavishly illustrated volume explores the history of China from the founding of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912) through to the present day. Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand this rising superpower on the verge of what promises to be the 'Chinese century'

• Introduction


• 1: Anne Gerritsen: From Late Ming to High Qing, 1550-1792


• 2: Stephen R. Platt: New Domestic and Global Challenges, 1792-1860


• 3: Robert Bickers: Restoration and reform, 1860-1900


• 4: Peter Zarrow: Felling a Dynasty, Founding a Republic


• 5: James Carter: The Rise of Nationalism and Revolutionary Parties, 1919-1937


• 6: Rana Mitter: The War Years, 1937-1949


• 7: S. A. Smith: The Early Years of the People's Republic, 1950-1964


• 8: Richard Curt Kraus: The Cultural Revolution Era, 1964-1976


• 9: Timothy Cheek: Reform and Rebuilding, 1976-1988


• 10: Jeffrey Wasserstrom and Kate Merkel-Hess: Tiananmen and Its Aftermath, 1989-1999


• 11: William A. Callahan: China Rising, 2000-2010


• 12: Ian Johnson: The Presence of the Past - A Coda


• Timeline


• Further Reading


• Index

Jeffrey Wasserstrom is Chancellor's Professor of History at the University of California, Irvine, and Editor of the Journal of Asian Studies. He has edited a number of books on China and is the author of four: Student Protests in Twentieth Century China: The View from Shanghai (1991), China's Brave New World-And Other Tales for Global Times (2007), Global Shanghai, 1850-2010 (2009), and China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know (2010; new ed. 2013), the last of which was also published by Oxford University Press. A co-founder of and contributing editor to the influential China Beat blog (2008-2012), he is a regular contributor to the press, including the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, and he co-edits the Asia section of the Los Angeles Review of Books. A member of the Board of Directors of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, he has been traveling to China regularly since the 1980s.