This volume offers a comprehensive account of China's historical evolution from a prosperous empire to a semi-colonial nation and finally to an independent Communist state.

Includes chronology. Includes glossary.

A historic day - The Middle Kingdom humbled by the West - Self-strengthening and other reform efforts - Fall of the Qing and the struggle for control - Triumph of the Communists - Early years of the People's Republic of China - The Hundred Flowers and the Great Leap Forward - The Cultural Revolution - Reform and conflict - A rising power in the 21st century.