The History of Modern China

China, whose recorded history extends back several thousand years, was once the most advanced civilization on earth. But after centuries of self imposed isolation, the so-called Middle Kingdom found itself lagging behind the world's industrialized countries. Defeated militarily by the Western powers and Japan dung the second half of the 19th century, China went through a series of reforms and revolutions before the emergence of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949. Internal political …