The Politics of China: Sixty Years of The People's Republic of China

Thirty years ago, China was emerging from one of the most traumatic periods in its history. The Chinese people had been ravaged by long years of domestic struggle, terrible famine and economic and political isolation. Today, China has the world's second largest economy and is a major player in global diplomacy. This volume, written by some of the leading experts in the field, tracks China's extraordinary transformation from the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, through the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, and the death of Chairman Mao, to its dynamic rise as a superpower in the twenty-first century. The latest edition of the book includes a new introduction and a seventh chapter which focuses on the legacy of Deng Xiaoping, the godfather of China's transformation, under his successors Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao. Under Mao, China challenged the outside world ideologically and militarily. Today China's challenge as an economic and diplomatic superpower may prove even more formidable. As a comprehensive and authoritative appraisal of China's last sixty years, this book will be invaluable for professionals working in the region and for students assessing what China will mean for their futures.

Roderick Macfarquhar is the Leroy B. Williams Professor of History and Political Science and Professor of Government at Harvard University. He has had an illustrious career. He was Director of the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research at Harvard University, the founding editor of The China Quarterly, and a member of Parliament. His publications include Mao's Last Revolution (2006), co-authored with Michael Schoenhals, and The Origins of the Cultural Revolution (3 vols., 1974,1983,1997). He is also co-editor, with the late John K. Fairbank, of volumes 14 and 15 of The Cambridge History of China (1987, 1991).