A Nation-State by Construction ─ Dynamics of Modern Chinese Nationalism

Zhao (international studies, U. of Denver) reads between the lines and takes the whole of Chinese history, particularly the twentieth century as his background as he examines the traditional and contemporary nature of nationalism in China, how it came to be and where, how its leadership has worked within it, and both the subtle and great intellectual changes that have ebbed and flowed about it. He finds Chinese nationalism to be far from static and a force to be dealt with at the international level, particularly by Western nations who do not understand it, and a major influence in liberalization and the generation of civil rights. He finds the rise of pragmatic state-led nationalism to be in concert with the decline of the influence of communism per se , and that nationalism in China has a dual (inward and outward) nature. Annotation c2005 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)