'His book is a miracle of thoroughness, truthfulness and readability - the perfect primer for a time when China is about to enter all our lives' Sunday Telegraph

'Jonathan Fenby's ... illuminating book is] the first major history that looks at the country with the eyes of the 21st century rather than the 20th' Rana Mitter, Financial Times

'Reads like a novel and is never less than thoughtful and compassionate for the fate of a much-abused people ... Fenby has] a journalist's eye for telling detail' Herald

'Taut, anecdote-studded ... a great introduction for a general audience, with vivid scene setting and character sketches' Michel Sheridan, Sunday Times

'For an accessible, authoritative, fair and comprehensive and well written account, this would be hard to better' BBC History

'A wonderful history of modern China and a cracking good read' Chris Patten

Jonathan Fenby, CBE, has been the editor of the Observer and the South China Morning Post. His books include Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the China He Lost and Dealing with the Dragon: A Year in the New Hong Kong. He is currently Editor-in-Chief and China Editor of the analytical service, Trusted Sources.