Table of Contents

Tables and Figures
Acknowledgments

Introduction: The China Order

Arrangement of the Book

1. The Centralia: The Origin and the Basics

The Chinese Nomenclature: More than Just Semantics
China as a World: Ecogeography Shapes the Mind
The Chinese Peoples and the Chinese Multination
History and the Writing of History in China
The Precondition: The Pre-Qin China
The Glory and Peacefulness of the Warring States

2. The Qin-Han Polity and Chinese World Empire

Authoritarianism and Totalitarianism
The Qin Polity: The Chinese Totalitarianism
The Qin Tianxia: A World Empire Order
The Qin-Han Polity and the China Order
The Fused Confucianism-Legalism
The Consolidation and Expansion of the China Order
The Recurrence of the China Order and the Great East-West Divergence
The Evolution and Refinement of the China Order
From the Second Great Disunion to the Ultimate China Order
The Qing World Empire

3. The Forsaken Turn: The Song Era

The Song: An Uncommon Qin-Han Empire
Song’s Chinese World
Chanyuan Treaty: China’s Peace of Westphalia
Chanyuan System: A New World Order for Eastern Eurasia
Chanyuan System in the Chinese Mind
The Splendid Song: The Chinese World under the Chanyuan System
Song Era: The Peak of Ancient Chinese Civilization

4. The China Order: An Assessment

The China Order: The Characteristics
The China Order versus the Westphalia System
Ideal Governance for the Rulers at Exorbitant Expenses
Great Incompatibility and Long Stagnation
Deadly Sisyphus, Inescapable Inferno
Why the Stagnation: A Pausing Note on Monopoly

5. The Century of Humiliation and Progress

The Decay and Fading of the China Order
Westernization: The Way to Survive
The Unusual Fall of the Qing Empire
The ROC on the Chinese Mainland: An Era of Opportunities
Late-Qing and the Republican Eras: A Reassessment

6. Great Leap Backward

The ROC: A Tenacious but Transforming Authoritarianism
The Rise of the CCP
Mao and the Mandate of the People
Guns, Ruses, and Promises
The PRC: A New Qin-Han State
Post-Mao: The Qin-Han Polity Changes and Continues
Suboptimal Performance, Rich State, Strong Military

7. The China Struggle Between Tianxia and Westphalia

The Tianxia Mandate
Mao’s Global War for a New China Order
Rescued and Enriched by the Enemy
Opening and Hiding: To Survive the End of the Cold War
The China Dream: Rejuvenation and Global Governance
Epilogue: The Scenarios

Notes
Bibliography
Index

About the Author

Fei-Ling Wang is Professor of International Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology. His books include Organizing through Division and Exclusion: China's Hukou System and China Rising: Power and Motivation in Chinese Foreign Policy (coedited with Yong Deng).

Reviews

"An original, important, well-researched, and powerfully argued exploration of the virtues and vices of the Chinese state from its ancient past to its likely future." - Edward Friedman, University of Wisconsin, Madison "A masterpiece. Wang provides a grand, sweeping, even epic review of two thousand years of Chinese history. His argument is compelling and well documented; the richness and variety of sources-Chinese and English-he cites is breathtaking. The book is likely to end up on the reading list of every serious student of China's position in the world for many years to come." - Daniel C. Lynch, author of China's Futures: PRC Elites Debate Economics, Politics, and Foreign Policy "This imaginative and provocative grand tour of Chinese cosmological order and geopolitical strategy, past and present, is destined to become a classic." - Ming Xia, author of The People's Congresses and Governance in China: Toward a Network Mode of Governance