The fall and rise of China: healing the trauma of history - 46502

Today, China is a global power, home to the world's fastest-growing economy and largest standing army - which makes it hard to believe that, only 150 years ago, China was enduring defeats by Western imperial powers and neighboring Japan.

For a time, the Middle Kingdom seemed like it was on the verge of being overtaken by foreign interests, but the country has quickly and ambitiously become a player on the world stage once again.

In this account of how China refashioned itself, Paul U.

Unschuld traces the course of the country's development in the 19th and early 20th centuries.