Mao's China and the Cold War

By Jian Chen

416 pp., 6.125 x 9.25, 17 photographs, 1 table, 4 maps, notes, bibl., index

Not for sale in South Asia, Afghanistan, or the Maldives

  • Paperback ISBN: 978-0-8078-4932-3
    Published: June 2001
  • E-book EPUB ISBN: 978-0-8078-9890-1
    Published: March 2010
  • E-book PDF ISBN: 979-8-8908-7345-3
    Published: March 2010

New Cold War History

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This comprehensive study of China's Cold War experience reveals the crucial role Beijing played in shaping the orientation of the global Cold War and the confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union.

The success of China's Communist revolution in 1949 set the stage, Chen says. The Korean War, the Taiwan Strait crises, and the Vietnam War--all of which involved China as a central actor--represented the only major "hot" conflicts during the Cold War period, making East Asia the main battlefield of the Cold War, while creating conditions to prevent the two superpowers from engaging in a direct military showdown. Beijing's split with Moscow and rapprochement with Washington fundamentally transformed the international balance of power, argues Chen, eventually leading to the end of the Cold War with the collapse of the Soviet Empire and the decline of international communism.

Based on sources that include recently declassified Chinese documents, the book offers pathbreaking insights into the course and outcome of the Cold War.

About the Author

Chen Jian is C. K. Yen Professor of Chinese-American Relations at the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia, Professor of History at the University of Virginia, and Zijiang Visiting Professor at East China Normal University.
For more information about Jian Chen, visit the Author Page.

Reviews

"A major contribution to our understanding of Chinese Cold War history. Chen Jian's unrivaled control of the new and plentiful Chinese source materials is evident throughout, as an inspiration to other scholars in the field."—Odd Arne Westad, London School of Economics