The dragon and the foreign demons

With a "broad and informative approach" (The Guardian), The Dragon and the Foreign Demons presents China and the world, from 1100 BC to the present day. China is the most exciting rising power in the modern world. The explosive growth of its economy and the possibility that the People's Republic of China will soon become the next superpower—one that will dominate East Asia and influence the rest of the world—have attracted worldwide interest, admiration, envy, or apprehension. Most accounts of China approach this vast and densely populated country through the prism of its dynasties, the struggle to defend its borders, and its internal politics. This book by Harry G. Gelber is the first work for the general public to describe China's history from both an external and internal perspective. In his narrative, he examines the development of these relationships, from the incursions into China by steppe horsemen around 200 BC to the conquests of Genghis Khan and the Mongols in the 13th century, and the arrival of Marco Polo and other European travelers in the late Middle Ages. He continues with the Opium Wars and China's decline after 1911, from the communist revolution of 1949 to the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989, and concludes with China's recent rebirth as a dynamic economy and a major international actor. Explaining what motivated these foreign powers to reach out to China and their most significant interests and worldviews regarding China, Gelber also describes the recurring cycles of Chinese history, from turmoil and disorder to a strong central government, and, once again, to a time of conflict. *The Dragon and the Foreign Demons* reveals the fickleness of China's relationship with the rest of the world as never before described. “A lucid history of how China positioned itself in a Western-dominated world.” – Publishers Weekly“Gelber comprehensively structures the vast Chinese story.” – Booklist