Rating: 
Summary: Superb Review of China's Government's Perceptions
Review: Mr. Terrill, the Harvard scholar who is both the widely acclaimed biographer of Mao and his wife, the best-selling portrayer of China in his "800,000" and the writer of the fascinating "China In Our Time". He has now written a swiftly readable yet authoritative book that provides vivid documentation to support its thesis that the Chinese government's view of its own internal empire over non-Han peoples (Tibet, the Uighurs of Turkestan, the Mongolians of Inner Mongolia) and exertion of its authority over the world outside - are of one piece - and entirely consistent with past Chinese empires. The book is wonderfully instructive to American policymakers. It documents the Chinese government's ability (through its pretension to worldwide authority, its soaring military strength and its manipulation of the news - and therefore attitudes - for home consumption) to put western governments off balance in order to project its ethnocentric view of the world. The Cinese government is succeeding wildly in making its view of the world relative to the "Middle Kingdom" a reality. Terrill's command of Chinese history is convicing. His recitation of the very different views by the Communist Party (before and after taking power) on the separate nationhood of Tibet, Mongolia, Turkestan Taiwan, was new to me. Terrill's account of how the Chinese control their inner empire through ethnic cleaning - on a scale undreamt by Slobodan Milosevic - is, again, fascinating. The book gives a far greater sense of the unreality of any "one China" status for Taiwan -- which was not part of China until 1884 - and then for a mere eleven years - and then for a mere four years in the 20th Century when the Kuomintang govened China. Terrill convincingly shows that "there IS no Taiwan issue" - merely the desire by the Chinese govenment to seize it - a desire similar to its expressed long-term intentions to take Korea and Indochina because at one time in the last several thousand years, they too were subject to China's control. Mr. Terrill's thesis is so well-documnted that those reviewers here who criticize the book seem to do so out of some misplaced emotion - Terrill has written a book about the Chinese government - not those of other countries past or present. I highly recommend the book - you'll learn much and it's wonderfully written.
Rating:
Summary: Superb Review of China's Government's Perceptions
Review: Mr. Terrill, the Harvard scholar who is both the widely acclaimed biographer of Mao and his wife, the best-selling portrayer of China in his "800,000" and the writer of the fascinating "China In Our Time". He has now written a swiftly readable yet authoritative book that provides vivid documentation to support its thesis that the Chinese government's view of its own internal empire over non-Han peoples (Tibet, the Uighurs of Turkestan, the Mongolians of Inner Mongolia) and exertion of its authority over the world outside - are of one piece - and entirely consistent with past Chinese empires. The book is wonderfully instructive to American policymakers. It documents the Chinese government's ability (through its pretension to worldwide authority, its soaring military strength and its manipulation of the news - and therefore attitudes - for home consumption) to put western governments off balance in order to project its ethnocentric view of the world. The Cinese government is succeeding wildly in making its view of the world relative to the "Middle Kingdom" a reality. Terrill's command of Chinese history is convicing. His recitation of the very different views by the Communist Party (before and after taking power) on the separate nationhood of Tibet, Mongolia, Turkestan Taiwan, was new to me. Terrill's account of how the Chinese control their inner empire through ethnic cleaning - on a scale undreamt by Slobodan Milosevic - is, again, fascinating. The book gives a far greater sense of the unreality of any "one China" status for Taiwan -- which was not part of China until 1884 - and then for a mere eleven years - and then for a mere four years in the 20th Century when the Kuomintang govened China. Terrill convincingly shows that "there IS no Taiwan issue" - merely the desire by the Chinese govenment to seize it - a desire similar to its expressed long-term intentions to take Korea and Indochina because at one time in the last several thousand years, they too were subject to China's control. Mr. Terrill's thesis is so well-documnted that those reviewers here who criticize the book seem to do so out of some misplaced emotion - Terrill has written a book about the Chinese government - not those of other countries past or present. I highly recommend the book - you'll learn much and it's wonderfully written.
Rating: 
Summary: International Relations, China-Style
Review: Ross Terrill sees continuity between the past and the present in China's domestic politics and international relations. The imperial system, he believes, is still the fundamental structure in which China's leaders make decisions, even in the twenty-first century, and even after more than fifty years of Communist rule. That leaders like Mao and Deng (and even Jiang) were emperors in all but name is something of a cliché, but Terrill gives a fresh perspective to this commonly-held notion. He is well-read in China's history, and shows it here to good effect without weighing himself down with excessive scholarship. His style is light and well-suited to his approach: prove a point to the general reader's satisfaction and then move on. By far the most interesting sections of Terrill's book are those having to do with China's world view. China has traditionally looked upon not just the rest of East Asia, but even the rest of the world as an extension of China itself. This was not so much a ruling concept as it was a pervasive ruling assumption, and it formed the basis for imperial China. When China was strong, this assumption allowed it to swallow up other areas from Tibet to Vietnam without elaborate conceptual justifications; when China was weak, the assumption was still in force through tributary relations or complex diplomatic relations that allowed Beijing to appear to have the upper hand even when it did not. Circumstances may change, but the assumption is never questioned. Terrill draws numerous parallels between imperial China and today's new China. Beijing still seeks to punch above its weight by formalizing relationships with other countries in ways China prefers even when it cannot immediately achieve its aims (this explains why China puts such stress on its "One-China" policy with the United States). What is remarkable, he argues, is not so much that China would use this strategy as how successful it is in doing so. Other nations - whether out of excessive respect for China's culture or fear of losing access to China's market - bow down and accede to many of China's demands. In the area of international relations, this book should be viewed as the counterpoint to "The Great Wall and the Empty Fortress: China's Search for Security." Whereas the authors of that book, Andrew Nathan and Robert Ross, view China as fundamentally conservative in its international outlook, Terrill sees it as potentially destabilizing.
Rating: 
Summary: Bullshit---This book is for know-nothing
Review: The airhead author confused too much things, and he did not know the real Chinese history and international entente. Taiwan, a part of China,was attacked by Janpanese, and then returned to China after WWII---the author could not be so stupid and unknew the "Cairo proclamation".
Rating:
Summary: This is a great book to understand China and Chinese.
Review: The author intends to explain the behavior of China by comparing the history of China. As he mentions at the beginning of the book "Know the Future in Mirror of the Past".
As a Chinese-Taiwanese-American I spent my first 36 years in Taiwan. My parents were educated by the Japanese. I did not fully understand the Chinese people until I come to United States. I believe the people in the China have the same experience as the people in Taiwan. The education system and media are served as the propoganda tools of the government. I realized that a lot of Chinese history I learned in Taiwan is distorted, faked and incomplete. For example, the San Francisco Treaty and the peace treaty between KMT government and Japan are not in the history book.
The CCP is afraid of loosing their tight control of the monoply power. If there is an uprising in China United States is the only country in the world can help the people of China to overthrow the CCP government. That is why China considers United States is their primary enemy. Unfortunately Germany and France are taking the advantage of it (selling Airbus or making comments againt US's interest to please China).
The author mentions some key issues of China in chapter 12. These issues might be true but without the fundamental change I do not see lights of turning China into a normal modern country.
Soviet Union and Germany can make change without blood and the transformation was instantly. Can China do the same?
Chapter 7 "Beijing juggles the legacy of empire" raises questions of "Who is Chinese" and "What is China". The author's view is very revolutionary. I feel like breathing the fresh air. As a matter of fact that Great Wall is a evidence that the northern part of China beyond Great Wall is not part of China. The author's question "Why is Taiwan "in" the PRC's One China and northern Mongolia "out"? My answer to this question is China views Taiwan as a threat to its regime. It is not because Taiwan is going to invade mainland but Taiwan is setting a good example that there is other way to manage China. At the end Mr. Terrill states "The PRC state indeed has dwarfed its people. .... Yet individual human beings are the one truly creative force." I saw a lot of Chinese's talent were wasted. It is shameful.
Rating: 
Summary: 5-star subjective
Review: The book might be attractive, but it can be totally subjective as well. The author expressed his attitude, but if one is interested in truth, think twice and do by yourself. A fact is: China never committed massacre in its long history, in contrast to Japanese. Descendants of the arsonists in China's Winter Palace in 1860 become the most civilized peoples. Occupiers of the land of American indians becomes evangelists of democracy. Reading a book is easy, but for truth be serious.
Rating: 
Summary: This book makes my head spin
Review: The coincidence is remarkable: Niall Ferguson's book on the British Empire, Dominic Lieven's on the Russian Empire, and now Ross Terrill's on the Chinese Empire - all appear at the same time. All are histories with a message - the subject is more like political science than strictly history. While Ferguson's final message on the British Empire is that America is in fact an empire and should be a larger one still in the future, Terrill argues similarly that China today is also an empire - but one that should cease to exist if possible. This book is somewhat confusing, a jumble of anecdotes, historical analysis, and political theorizing. It is so full of complaints about the present Chinese government that I doubt this is unintentional: Ross Terrill is making a statement, being deliberately provocative (no doubt improving sales here in America), and leaving behind a personal manifesto for posterity, so to speak. This book is unlikely to make the bestsellers lists in China, to put it mildly. If I'm not mistaken, Terrill believes China will democratize - and break up into a federation of semi-independent states. He offers a number of scenarios, but the point is the same: China cannot, must not, and will not remain what it is today. He means politically. Of economics he has little to say. While I agree with him that China will change, Terrill is a bit vague on his specific timeframe. My personal observation is as follows. China has undergone more changes politically and economically in the last two hundred years than it had ever had since 400-200 B.C., when China was in political, military, cultural, economic and social turmoil before finally achieving the prosperity and stability of the two Han Dynasties. Today China is still in transition, and one cannot expect China not to change. Terrill's point is valid, if somewhat overstated. Every country follows its own course, which is marked out by its history and shaped by international events. Certainly China will eventually liberalize and be part of the international community in every sense. Why be so impatient? China today is authoritarian and totalitarian. What Terrill doesn't ask is: Is China more authoritarian and totalitarian today than a quarter century ago, or is it less so? The answer is of course LESS SO. Moreover, all signs point to the same thing: China is still moving in the democratic direction, and however slow this process may be, it seems irreversible. Terrill chooses not to point this out. (If China were NOT moving in the right direction, I doubt very much the 2008 Olympics would have been awarded to Beijing. The reason why comparing the Beijing Games to the "Hitler Olympics" in 1936 doesn't make sense is that Germany in the 1930's was moving in the wrong direction, while China today is clearly changing in the right direction, politically as well economically.) I have a slight problem with authors who make their points with highly selective facts. It makes me suspicious of their integrity (or worse, their competence). I have no doubt Terrill is a China-lover. After all his biography of Mao is one of my favorite books. But this book is a little different. One detail illustrates my point. On p. 281: "In fact, after two decades of MFN status for China, US trade with the PRC was very far from being 'ten times' its trade with Taiwan. In 1999, US exports to the PRC were LESS than its exports to Taiwan." First of all, considering this book just came out of the printers, I find it odd that he has chosen 1999 to make his point. US exports to China in Feb 2003 was $4 billion, compared to $2.5 billion to Taiwan - not LESS, but 1.6 times. US total trade with China for the month of Feb, 2003 was $11.69 billion, compared with the puny $3.38 billion with Taiwan. For the whole year of 2002, US total trade in both exports and imports with China amounted to $147.3 billion, compared with the much smaller $50.6 billion with Taiwan. (All figures from the US Dept of Commerce.) Now, of course none of these figures invalidate Terrill's point that US trade with China is still less than ten times that with Taiwan, but what he suggests is misleading (and in his suggestion that US exports to China is less than to Taiwan, wrong). The truth is, China is doing much more trade, both ways, with America than Taiwan is. It may not be ten times as much - YET - but considering the fact that America has been seriously trading with China for only a decade, while it has been doing so with Taiwan since 1949, the ten times conjecture is very possible in the future. China is already America's 4th largest trade partner - coming fast on the heels of Japan - while Taiwan is only 9th. Terrill neglects to mention that the trade growth between China and the US is extremely fast, while America's trade with Taiwan is stalled. He also fails to note that two-way trade betwen China and Taiwan is also growing healthily (despite SARS). Terrill is suggesting that when Deng Xiaoping made this forecast to Carter, he was lying. But he wasn't, because he never said when this target would be achieved. In time, it will be. Terrill makes this observation to illustrate the difference between what the Chinese govenment says and the reality. This book has countless such examples. No doubt the point itself is well-made and correct. (Show me a government - any government - that tells the truth, the whole truth and nothing but! Where are the WMD and al-Qaeda links in Iraq?) But since the reality he himself presents is often so misleading and sometimes wrong, he makes a fool of himself. He must first find out the truth himself before accusing others of not telling the truth. While I'm on this subject of trade, Terrill doesn't ask himself why trade with the West will not be the key to political changes in China. It WILL be. Indeed he has little to say about economics in general, even though foreign trade leads to economic prosperity, which in turn will drive social and political liberalization, not to mention further economic reform. Trade is China's political and economic engine. Instead he focuses on the one thing he loves to talk about: political ideology. That puts the cart before the horse. Also, he doesn't discuss why China even with an authoritarian system can still be a responsible and constructive partner with the US over foreign problems, such as North Korea, as it is indeed proving to be so. India is a democracy - how is India helping America? France too is a democracy for that matter. I find this book full of rage. No doubt it stems from his personal love of China and his hatred of the regime, and I empathize. Or maybe it's just a deliberate posture (what they call "grand standing")? But it is foolish to be impatient and fail to take the long view. (This is doubly odd since Terrill's familiarity with China's history is evident in this book.) It is also unwise to neglect the economic factors in the equation, and dishonest to be highly selective in presenting facts and figures to prove his points.
Rating:
Summary: Not new, but well discribed
Review: The view of this book is well known among neiboring countries. For instance, in the case of Tibet, because the Tibetian govenment" sent missions to the Chinese court to pay deference as an insurance policy agains being attacked(P.36)" based on "the tribute system "since 17th century, the current Chinese communist govenment justify their occupation and Sinfication of Tibetian people. In the same vain, the Chinese govenment sometimes claim that part of Okinawa, the southern part of Japan, used to belong to China, because Okinawa Kingdom was integrated into the tribute system, like Tibet. On the other hand, Japan created the original emperor, in order to prevent itself from being Sinfied . The Chinese govenment also try to occupy Taiwan, folloing the same logic.
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