The late Ming -- The Manchu conquest -- Kangxi's consolidation -- Yongzheng's authority -- Chinese society and the reign of Qianlong -- China and the eighteenth-century world -- The first clash with the West -- The crisis within -- Restoration through reform -- New tensions in the late Qing -- The end of the dynasty -- The new republic -- A road is made -- The fractured alliance -- The Guomindang in power -- Communist survival -- World War II -- The fall of the Guomindang state -- The birth of the People's Republic -- Planning the new society -- Deepening the revolution -- Cultural revolution -- Reopening the doors -- Redefining revolution -- Levels of power -- Testing the limits -- Century's end -- Breakthrough?