For generations scholars and the general public have looked to John King Fairbank for knowledge and insights about China. In four editions of this work he has provided these.Reviews of this book: "An indispensable book for thoughtful people." --New York Times Book Review "Fairbank provides a miraculously concise account of Chinese civilization from its foundations to the present day...Maps, photographs, and an 80-page bibliography make this an invaluable reference work." --New Republic "As useful and timely as when it first appeared in 1948. Written by America's foremost China scholar, John Fairbank, the book addresses a popular, not the academic, audience. It offers a sweeping view of the Chinese polity from ancient times up to the recent, convoluted period of Western contact, spiced by the wit and insight into detail of a geographer who drew the maps himself...Yet the book offers much to the specialist as well as the layman. To the historian, a state-of-the-art review of the latest historical analysis of modern china...To the student, a cogent guide to the field...For the diplomat and businessman, the work explores that most intangible but also most influential area of human feeling between the two countries that has launched ventures and derailed them." --China Business Review "The best general introduction to the Chinese political system...A book of love and great learning." --Kirkus Reviews "Still flashes with brilliance in its latest (fourth) incarnation...With this latest edition of what is arguably the best guide to China in any language, American and other non-Chinese readers may finally catch a glimpse of the 'very complex' Chinese way of life." --Asiaweek Literary Review "[Fairbank's] ability to transcend the academic to write a highly readable, authoritative, information-packed, perceptive and analytical account of the Chinese is unsurpassed. This is must reading for all Asiaphiles." --Asia Mail