China in the 21st Century: Book Blog

For the class we had to read a book about china. I decided to read China in the 21st century by Jeffery Wasserstrom. The books starts out by giving you some history of China. It first talks about Confucianism, which is based off a philosopher Confucius. Over the years Confucius has been seen as a saint or god-like figure. Confucianism did actually go away after the Communist Party came to power. In the 21st century Confucianism is actually becoming more popular again. In the Beijing Olympics an announcer actually read off one of Confucius quotes. After this event, they called for harmonious social relations around the world. They are started to build Confucius Institutes in schools as well. The book also talks about the different dynasties and how they ruled. It also discusses the differences between the dynasties. It then explains the Opium War and how that war affected all of China. It explains how Britain secured rights for "treaty ports". It then goes in detail about the Boxer Rebellion and how that affected their relationship with other countries and what the Boxers were and why they rebelled. So the first have of the book talks about the history and the second half of the book talks more about the future and goals of China. The second half of the book focuses on China being a threat to the United States as a superpower. He compares the stages that the United States went through to become a superpower and where China is in comparison to the United States. I think that this book was extremely informative and helped me understand the history and current conditions of China more. The book was rather short but a very interesting read. I would suggest if anyone has any interest in reading more about China and their status compared to other countries they should definitely read this book!