We urgently need to know more about this colossus.

An industrial, economic, demographic and military giant is rising in the East today. Gulliver has been lying hobbled for two centuries. And yet, China is a prestigious civilization (this book plunges us into exotic pasts, between archaeology and myth), an immemorial history: from the bloody effervescence of the Warring Kingdoms, we will see the emergence of an empire, a Han dynasty that will give its name to a people; we will witness long periods of fragmentation, moments of unification under the Tang, of struggle against a fatal destiny under the Song. We’ll see the peoples of the steppes whose history can be read in symbiosis with the Chinese, such as the Yuan or the Qing who also embodied the Empire. We’ll explore the long centuries when this country was the world’s superpower, the pole of attraction of the global economy.

Until the 17th-18th centuries, China fell behind the West. Today, China is back at the centre of the world. Hundreds of millions of Chinese have enjoyed prosperity over the last thirty years, a unique episode in economic history. China was once the embodiment of communism. Today it has a new face: an authoritarian state, a liberal economy, ecosystems in peril and an ageing population. A country woven of contradictions, which in the 21st century has set out to reclaim the place it once held in the global hierarchy: that of number 1.

Contributors:
Timothy Brook, Jean-Pierre Cabestan, Vincent Capdepuy, Anne Cheng, Gladys Chicharro-Saito, Danielle Elisseeff, Vincent Goossaert, Romain Grazani, Jean-François Huchet, Cyrille J.-D. Javary, Maya Kandel, Béatrice L’Haridon, Éric Marié, Pierre Marsone, Rémi Mathieu, Régis Meyran, Valérie Niquet, Kenneth Pomeranz, Mary-Françoise Renard, Alain Roux, François Thierry, Jean-Michel Valantin.

Table of contents

China, the power of yesterday and tomorrow, Laurent Testot

Civilisation

The origins of a civilisation, Danielle Elisseeff

The keys to Chinese writing, Cyrille J.-D. Javary

Another vision of the world, Cyrille J.-D. Javary

Taoism, a glimpse of the origins, Romain Graziani

Confucius. Wisdom of yesterday… politics of today, Rémi Mathieu

Chinese tradition: a history worth revisiting, interview with Anne Cheng

A thousand-year-old medicine that is still official, Éric Marié

Four inventions that changed history, Laurent Testot

History

War at the time of the Warring Kingdoms, Valérie Niquet

China at the time of the First Emperor, François Thierry

Qin and Han, the first empires, Béatrice L’Haridon

The Tang, a conquering power, Danielle Elisseeff

The peoples of the steppe take power, Pierre Marsone

The fall of the Song, Laurent Testot

The Yuan at the centre of the world, Timothy Brook

China: when dragons tell the story, meeting with Timothy Brook

The Ming, the first globalisation, Vincent Capdepuy

China and Europe, the great divergence, Kenneth Pomeranz

Cixi, Empress of China, Danielle Elisseeff

The Taiping revolt, Vincent Goossaert

China today

From Sun Yatsen to Mao, a century of blood, Alain Roux

Chinese-style capitalism, Mary-Françoise Renard

The impossible democratisation, Jean-Pierre Cabestan

The metamorphoses of the family, Danielle Elisseeff

The child emperor, Gladys Chicharro-Saito

China, a religious people, an atheist state? Vincent Goossaert

A major ecological crisis, interview with Jean-François Huchet

Chinese expansion in three words

“From the New Silk Road to the China Sea: chronicles of expansion” Jean-Michel Valantin

United States/China: Duel at the summit, Maya Kandel

Bibliography