"For over a century, from the First Opium War in 1839-42 to the end of the Second World War, China was repeatedly humiliated by Western imperial powers and by its smaller neighbor, Japan. For a time the Middle Kingdom seemed on the verge of becoming a pawn of foreign interests. Then, in a process unmatched in history, this great culture recovered vigorously from its seemingly hopeless plight - so much so that today the state, its leaders and its burgeoning...