Why read The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom?

Book cover of The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom: America and China, 1776 to the Present

Book description

A Remarkable History of the Two-Centuries-Old Relationship Between the United States and China, from the Revolutionary War to the Present Day

From the clipper ships that ventured to Canton hauling cargos of American ginseng to swap for Chinese tea, and the Yankee missionaries who brought Christianity and education to China,…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Bob Davis

Author

We are used to thinking about how much China has changed in the past 50 years, thanks to the actions of the United States. But we rarely think about China’s historic impact on the U.S. This magisterial book by a former Washington Post reporter with long experience in China corrects that imbalance. There is a reason the author uses 1776 in his subhead. The tea tossed into Boston Harbor was shipped from Xiamen, and America’s founders were inspired by Chinese society which they viewed as a meritocracy. China’s democratic reformers looked to the U.S. for inspiration too.

From Bob's list on China by Western journalists.