MAKING CHINA MODERN

Thoughtful probing a worthy successor to the famous histories of Fairbank and Spence that will be read by all students and scholars of modern China William C Kirby coauthor of Can China Lead It is tempting to attribute the rise of China to Deng Xiaoping and to recent changes in economic policy But China has a long history of creative adaptation In the eighteenth century the Qing Empire dominated a third of the world s population Then as the Opium Wars and the Taiping Rebellion ripped the country apart China found itself verging on free fall More recently after Mao China managed a surprising recovery rapidly undergoing profound economic and social change A dynamic story of crisis and recovery failure and triumph Making China Modern explores the versatility and resourcefulness that guaranteed China s survival powered its rise and will determine its future Chronicles reforms revolutions and wars through the lens of institutions often rebutting Western impressions New Yorker A remarkable accomplishment Unlike an earlier generation of scholarship Making China Modern does not treat China s contemporary transformation as a postscript It accepts China as a major and active player in the world places China at the center of an interconnected and