John King Fairbank was the West's doyen on China, and this book is the full and final expression of his lifelong engagement with this vast ancient civilization. It remains a masterwork without parallel. The distinguished historian Merle Goldman brings the book up to date, covering reforms in the post-Mao period through the early years of the twenty-first century, including the leadership of Hu Jintao. She also provides an epilogue discussing the changes in contemporary China that will shape the nation in the years to come.

In the twenty-first century, China has emerged as the leading challenger to U.S. global dominance. China is often seen as a sleeping giant, emerging out of poverty, backwardness, and totalitarianism and moving toward modernization. However, history shows that this vast country is not newly awakening, but rather returning to its previous state of world eminence. With this compelling perspective in mind, D. E. Mungello convincingly shows that contemporary relations between China and the West are far more like the 1500-1800 period than the more recent past.

Shallow, poorly educated Kitty marries the passionate and intellectual Walter Fane and has an affair with a career politician, Charles Townsend, assistant colonial secretary of Hong Kong. When Walter discovers the relationship, he compels Kitty to accompany him to a cholera-infested region of mainland China, where she finds limited happiness working with children at a convent. But when Walter dies, she is forced to leave China and return to England. Generally abandoned, she grasps desperately for the affection of her one remaining relative, her long-ignored father. In the end, in sharp, unexamined contrast to her own behavior patterns, she asserts that her unborn daughter will grow up to be an independent woman. The Painted Veil was first published in 1925 and is usually described as a strong story about a woman's spiritual journey. To more pragmatic, modern eyes, Kitty's emotional growth appears minimal.

This, the most up-to-date survey of contemporary art in the Asia Pacific, richly illustrated with new and original works by some of the most dynamic art practitioners working today, brings together a range of scholars with international reputations, unique perspectives and unparalleled insight into their region of expertise. It's engaging, clearly written and informative survey essays introduce the reader to the influences on and state of contemporary art in the region, with the aim of mapping the dynamic developments in contemporary Asian and Pacific art. Art in the region has mirrored and reflected social and political events as they have occurred in the past decades, and the majority of the writers therefore address the issue of art and social change through specific local and regional perspectives. Includes essays on India, China, New Zealand, Korea, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Phillipines, Singapore, Vietnam, and Taiwan.