Product Overview & Details

History of China C. 1840–1979 offers a comprehensive journey through one of the most transformative periods in Chinese history, covering the major political, social, economic, and cultural changes from the mid-nineteenth century to the late twentieth century. Beginning around 1840, when China faced increasing Western intervention and the First Opium War, the book traces the challenges that confronted the Qing Empire and the profound changes that followed.

The narrative explores the unequal treaties, foreign influence, internal rebellions, and reform movements that weakened the traditional imperial order. It examines the Self-Strengthening Movement, the Hundred Days’ Reform, the Boxer Uprising, and the 1911 Revolution, which brought an end to more than two thousand years of imperial rule and led to the establishment of the Republic of China.

The book further discusses the political struggles of the Republican era, including the rise of the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party, the Chinese Civil War, Japanese occupation, and the broader impact of international conflicts on China. The establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 marks another major turning point, followed by an examination of the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, and the political and social developments of the Mao era.

Covering the period up to 1979, the book also provides context for the beginnings of China’s post-Mao transformation and the reforms associated with Deng Xiaoping. By connecting major events with broader themes of nationalism, revolution, modernization, ideology, and social change, History of China C. 1840–1979 provides students and readers with a structured understanding of modern Chinese history.