The Dragon and the Foreign Devils: China and the World, 1100 BC to the Present
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Overview
A sweeping narrative history that tells the story of China’s relations with the rest of the world over three millennia
’An informed and extremely readable introduction to 3,000 years of Chinese history’ Independent
’A timely and comprehensive history ... vigorously written and scholarly, but refreshingly accessible, this is vital reading’ Good Book Guide
China’s story is of warfare and violence, philosophical and political invention, shining artistic achievement and often complex and subtle relations with outsiders. Harry G. Gelber’s fascinating general history of this great nation makes sense of China’s changing relationship with the rest of the world as never before.
From the invasions by steppe horsemen in 200 BC to Genghis Khan and the Mongol conquests, from the arrival of Marco Polo to the Opium Wars, from Communism to the Tiananmen Square protest, Gelber traces the path that led to China’s resurgence as a dynamic economy and a powerful international player today.
A sweeping narrative history that tells the story of China’s relations with the rest of the world over three millennia
’As I read through Dr Harry Gelber’s latest book on China, I became increasingly convinced that it would be the ideal textbook for any college course on the subject. The prose is elegant and clear, the information is comprehensive and the book is eminently readable ... Dr Gelber’s book would be a dream come true for anyone teaching a China course’
Dean Schulz of the College of Communications at Boston University
An essential historical guide for those doing business with China today
Publication in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics
’An informed and extremely readable introduction to 3,000 years of Chinese history’
’Gives a useful summary of China’s history and will introduce newcomers to the field to the great cycles of dynastic change and to the enduring characteristics of Chinese society such as the family and centralised bureaucratic government’
’A timely and comprehensive history ... vigorously written and scholarly, but refreshingly accessible, this is vital reading for anyone who wants to understand this mysterious and inscrutable country in its new global contest’
’The richness of the narrative is compelling and the candour of its comment refreshing. Rightly he emphasises the cyclical nature of China’s history and scouts the idea not just of Mao as a twentieth-century emperor but of the Party as a latter-day dynasty’
- Title: The Dragon and the Foreign Devils: China and the World, 1100 BC to the Present
- Author: Harry Gelber
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
- Print Publication Date: 2011
- Logos Release Date: 2024
- Pages: 512
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781408821848, 9780747593294, 0747593299, 1408821842
- Resource ID: LLS:9781408821848
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2025-04-22T11:44:21Z
Harry G. Gelber, born in 1926, read History at Cambridge before going on to do a PhD at Monash University in Australia. He has taught international politics at Boston University, Harvard, the LSE, Yale and Monash. From 1975 until 1992 he was Professor of Political Science at the University of Tasmania and remains Professor Emeritus there. Most recently he has been Visiting Scholar, Center for European Studies, Harvard University (2004-2006) and Visiting Fellow, Department of International Relations, London School of Economics (2001-2004). His many books include Nations out of Empires (2001) and Opium, Soldiers and Evangelicals (2004). He lives in Australia and travels regularly to the USA and Britain.