China Marches West

Perdue illuminates how China came to rule Central Eurasia and how it justifies that control, what holds the Chinese nation together, and how its relations with the Islamic world and Mongolia developed. He offers valuable comparisons to other colonial empires and discusses the legacy left by China's frontier expansion.

This is a masterpiece of contemporary scholarship. Nothing like it has been published in the field of Asian studies for several decades. And no one has written about Inner Asia during the formative eighteenth century with such comprehensive vision. It covers a huge swath of place and time, has impressive intellectual reach, and speaks with a calm certainty that sustains the reader's attention for the length of the book. -- Timothy Brook, author of Collaboration: Japanese Agents and Local Elites in Wartime China A masterful examination of imperial expansion and frontier history, this work goes to the roots of what it meant, for China, to be an 'empire' in the eighteenth century. Perdue's massive and detailed research into the expansion of the Qing empire contributes a crucial dimension to the comparative study of the Chinese, Russian, and Ottoman empires in the early modern period. This is a first-rate accomplishment and a truly outstanding piece of scholarship. -- Nicola Di Cosmo, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton Building on meticulous research in several languages, Perdueargues convincingly that the Qing conquests were of enormous importance both locally and globally. Drawing us deep into interconnected issues of frontier environments, state formation, and control of the historical record before the age of mass communication, his nuanced account sets a new standard for the study of both comparative empires and identity formation in the early modern world. -- Joanna Waley-Cohen, author of The Sextants of Beijing: Global Currents in Chinese History

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description