Invention of China

Bill Hayton is an associate fellow with the Asia-Pacific Programme at Chatham House and a journalist with BBC World News. He is the author of The South China Sea and Vietnam.

“This highly readable book is a fascinating primer on how the Qing Great State, reflected in a hall of mirrors formed of western ideas, reflects back a founding narrative which serves current Chinese political objectives. Contemporary Chinese policy is contextualised and thus somewhat demystified for the reader.”—Christopher Ruane, Asian Affairs“For scholars and students, the book provides fresh perspectives on age-old issues.”—Enzo Miguel M. De Borja, Philippine Political Science Journal“China is never out of the news, but we need to stop and think why our conventional wisdom about the country may need rethinking. Whether it’s the name of the country itself, or the maps that underpin its territorial claims, Hayton is a sure, informed and often witty guide to understanding how this major state came to imagine itself.”—Rana Mitter, author of China’s Good War“Immensely readable. . . . As China becomes increasingly nationalistic and aggressive, how Party leaders view their national identity and destiny grows ever more critical. This is a valuable porthole into that important subject.”—Orville Schell, author of Wealth and Power“A remarkable tour de force. This prodigious, highly readable book enhances our understanding of the origins and possible future of China’s ethnic conflicts, territorial disputes, and great power aspirations.”—Suisheng Zhao, University of Denver“Engaging. . . . Historians, poets, film-makers inside and outside China have built, demolished and rebuilt a multidimensional country/culture object that is more shaped by than shaping the aspirations and anxieties of humanity.”—Pamela Kyle Crossley, author of The Wobbling Pivot, China since 1800“Hayton’s work challenges readers to remember that ideas defining ‘China’ today are no more exceptional than those underpinning any state or nation. Assertions about rising from humiliation and immutable positions existing ‘since ancient times’ are in fact creations of an ongoing, modernist state-building project.”—Ja Ian Chong, assistant professor, National University of Singapore