Dong Wang is distinguished professor of history and director of the Wellington Koo Institute at Shanghai University since 2016, a Chatham House member, and a research associate at the Fairbank Center of Harvard University since 2002. Her books include The United States and China: A History from the Eighteenth Century to the Present and Longmen's Stone Buddhas and Cultural Heritage.

• Chapter 1 IntroductionChapter 2 Tracing the Contours of the "Unequal Treaties" in Imperial China, 1840-1911Chapter 3 Implementing and Contesting International Law: The "Unequal Treaties" and the Foreign Ministry of the Beijing Government, 1912-1928Chapter 4 Disseminating the Rhetoric of Bupingdeng Tiaoyue, 1923-1927Chapter 5 Redeeming "a Century of National Ignominy:" Nationalism and Party Rivalry over the Unequal Treaties, 1928-1947Chapter 6 Universalizing International Law and the Chinese Study of the Unequal Treaties: The Paradox of Equality and InequalityChapter 7 Conclusion: Defining and Redefining the PastChapter 8 Glossary

This is a perceptive study of a vitally important topic. Dong Wang is less interested in the unequal treaties as such than in the range of discourses (moral, legal, and rhetorical) they have elicited over the past century and the tie-ins between these discourses and Chinese politics and nationalism. The book is essential reading for anyone interested in the historical underpinnings of China's current view of the world and its place in it.