Why did Imperial China collapse? What were the causes of the rise to power of the Chinese Communist Party? Why did Commuist China rebel against Stalinist methods of socialist construction? These are among the questions addressed in this comprehensive, one-volume history of China from the 1800s to the present. Gray focuses on China's problems of development--the decay and collapse of the Chinese Empire, its failure to recover in the first half of the twentieth century, its rapid recovery since the Communist Party revolution of 1949--and carries his analysis through to the massacre in Tiananmen Square. His accessible text is supplemented by a chronology, eight maps, full notes and index, and a list of further reading, making this an indispensable volume for all students of Chinese and Asian history.