Wealth and Power

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Through engaging portraits of key modern Chinese leaders and thinkers, two leading specialists on China craft a narrative exploring the nation's remarkable rise to prominence. This journey follows China's transformation from a period marked by dynastic decline, intellectual turmoil, foreign occupation, civil war, and revolution to its current status as a global powerhouse. The book examines the lives of eleven pivotal figures, including Wei Yuan, who advocated for Western ideas before the first Opium War, and Liu Xiaobo, a contemporary human-rights advocate. Other notable figures include Empress Dowager Cixi, intellectuals Feng Guifen, Liang Qichao, and Chen Duxiu, as well as Nationalist leaders Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek, and Communist Party figures Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, and Zhu Rongji. These individuals shared a common goal: the pursuit of fuqiang, or "wealth and power," which shaped modern Chinese identity and drove transformative societal changes. By tracing the intellectual roots of today’s China, the authors provide vital insights into its evolution from decline to prosperity, helping readers understand the forces that continue to influence the nation’s trajectory in the 21st century.