By now, even the most casual observer of goings on in Asia will have noted the aggressive geopolitical maneuvering of China, a country news outlets have taken to calling "resurgent."
Everything Under the Heavens: How the Past Helps Shape China's Push For Global Power, by Howard W. French.352 pagesKNOPF, Nonfiction.
To understand how apt that term is, it's necessary to visit China's distant past. By examining the ancient roots of its self-regard, it's possible to bring the nature of its relations with neighboring countries into sharp focus. This is the idea at the heart of "Everything Under the Heavens: How the Past Helps Shape China's Push for Global Power," a new book by Howard W. French, a former New York Times bureau chief whose posts included Tokyo and Shanghai.