Introduction : The Fateful embrace of Communism and Its Consequence -- Joining the Socialist Camp -- War in Korea and Indochina -- The Bandung Era -- The Sino-Soviet Schism: the race to communism and great power status -- Sino-Indian Conflict and the Sino-Soviet Alliance -- Reviving Revolutionary Momentum, 1962-1965 -- Revolutionary China's Quest to Transform Southeast Asia -- Countering the United States in Vietnam : Proxy War with the United States -- The Cultural Revolution, 1966-1969 -- Rapprochement with the United States -- Countering Soviet Encirclement and Trying to Preserve Mao's Legacy -- Opening to the Outside World -- China's Pedagogic War with Vietnam -- The Strategic Triangle and the Four Modernizations -- Normalization with the Asian Powers: Soviet Union, India, Iran and Japan -- 1989: The CCP's Near Escape and Its Aftermath -- The Diplomacy of Damage Control -- 19. The Crisis Deepens: Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe and the USSR -- Constraining Unipolarity in an Unbalanced International System -- China and America in the Persian Gulf -- The Recovery of Hong Kong -- Military Confrontation with the United States -- China's Long Debate over Response to the US Challenge -- China's Emergence as a Global Economic Power -- Reassuring and Unnerving the Neighbors : Japan -- Reassuring and Unnerving the Neighbors : India -- China's Quest for Modernity and the Tides of World History.