For courses on Modern Chinese History, Politics, Society, and Culture; a supplement for courses on East Asian civilization, World History and Civilization. Unlike other texts on modern Chinese historywhich tend to be so encyclopedic as to be difficult to use in the classroom, or too pedantic to keep students' interestthis text is usably comprehensive, focused on cutting edge interpretations, and written in a style that engages students from beginning to end. It uses the theme of identitiesof the nation itself and of the Chinese peopleto probe the vast changes that have swept over China from late imperial times to the beginning of the twenty-first century. In so doing, it explores the range of identities China has chosen over time and those that outsiders have bestowed upon China and its peopleshowing how, as China rapidly modernizes, the issue of Chinese identity in the modern world looms large.