The Invention of China

Bill Hayton tells the story of how “China” came to think of itself as China—and what it means for our world today

“[A] smart take on modern Chinese nationalism.”—Foreign Policy

In this compelling and highly-readable account, Hayton shows how China’s present-day geopolitical problems—the fates of Hong Kong, Taiwan, Tibet, Xinjiang, and the South China Sea—were born in the struggle to create a modern nation-state. He brings alive the fevered debates of the late nineteenth and early twentieth ...