Revised and updated, this thoughtful, balanced and highly readable work provides a succinct, yet comprehensive and cohesive overview of China's tortuous path to modernization. The author prepares readers to understand the complex interaction between the Chinese cultural tradition and the internal and external pressures for change that led China onto the path of revolution and Communism. He provides a penetrating analysis of Mao Ze-dong's impact on the making of contemporary China and investigates the nature of Deng Xiao-ping's “second revolution” that reversed many of Maoist policies, opened China to the outside world, put the country on the road to economic prosperity, and made it a world player—but which has also generated serious economic and political imbalances that will continue to plague post- Deng China for many years to come.