The Idea of China: A Contested History
Author(s): Guoqi Xu (Author)
- Publisher: Harvard University Press
- Publication Date: March 24, 2026
- Language: English
- Print length: 320 pages
- ISBN-10: 0674976797
- ISBN-13: 9780674976795
Book Description
An acclaimed historian’s bold response to two simple, yet vexed, questions: What counts as China, and who counts as Chinese?
China became a capitalist superpower by investing in globalization. Now that it has established its credentials―and emerged as a major US competitor―its leaders are looking within, focused on suppressing dissent and fostering cohesion. The result has been an increasingly nationalist cultural agenda, celebrating a Chinese identity steeped in the mystique of the Middle Kingdom and nostalgia for heroic twentieth-century resistance. Yet Chinese nationalism, like nationalism everywhere, is fraught. Few Westerners, and even fewer Chinese, recognize that the very idea of China is up for grabs.
In this sweeping history, Xu Guoqi explores the transnational construction of Chineseness. The Idea of China describes an identity constantly under renovation. Through dialogue and confrontation with neighbors, more distant outsiders, and Chinese speakers and writers within the state, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the diaspora, the idea of China has been reshaped repeatedly across time. Even bedrock cultural formations like Confucianism have been reimported to China after their translation in Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and elsewhere. The idea of China has always been and remains a continuing process, invented, subverted, and reinvented to serve the shifting needs of kings and bureaucrats, industrialists and intellectuals, allies and adversaries.
Xu’s chronicle is as provocative as it is rigorous, and his conclusion could hardly be starker: China, fundamentally, is constituted by a shared history. To accept this is to begin moving past the heated great-power rivalries that threaten international peace and stability today.
Editorial Reviews
Review
“Very few historians, if any, come close to the insights Xu Guoqi has on China. As in all of his work, Xu stands out here by looking at China’s development through a transnational prism.
The Idea of China showcases Xu’s superb knowledge of Chinese history and the debates that surround it.”―Odd Arne Westad, coauthor of The Great Transformation: China’s Road from Revolution to Reform“In this book, Xu Guoqi deftly follows the many historical twists, turns, and official manipulations that have shaped the historical evolution of the elusive notion of “being Chinese.” Xu’s intellectual acuity and moral clarity make
The Idea of China an especially rewarding, essential reading experience.”―Orville Schell, coauthor of Wealth and Power: China’s Long March to the Twenty-First Century“This splendid book delineates and analyzes how the concepts of China and Chineseness have evolved over centuries, and what the consequences have been. Ingeniously crafted, it is a great read both for specialists and for members of the educated public who are interested in global history, intellectual history, and international relations.”
―Hanchao Lu, author of Shanghai Tai Chi: The Art of Being Ruled in Mao’s ChinaAbout the Author
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