Restless Empire

Product Description

Over the past 250 years of momentous change & dramatic upheaval China has proved itself to be a Restless Empire". Tracing Chinas course from the eighteenth-century Qing Dynasty to todays Peoples Republic " Restless Empire" shows how the countrys worldview has evolved. It explains how Chinese attitudes have been determined by both receptiveness & resistance to outside influence & presents the preoccupations that have set its foreign-relations agenda. Within two decades China is likely to depose the United States as the worlds largest economy. By then the country expects to have eradicated poverty among its population of more than one & a half billion & established itself as the worlds technological powerhouse. Meanwhile some
- especially its neighbours
- are afraid that China will strengthen its military might in order to bend others to its will. A new form of Chinese nationalism is rising. Many Chinese are angry about perceived past injustices & fear a loss of identity to commercial forces & foreign influences. So will Chinas attraction to world society dwindle or will China continue to engage? Will it attempt to recreate a Sino-centric international order in Eastern Asia or pursue a more harmonious diplomatic route? & can it overcome its lack of democracy & transparency or are these characteristics hard-wired into the Chinese system? Whatever the case we ignore Chinas international history at our peril. " Restless Empire" is a magisterial & indispensible history of the most important state in world affairs today."