The Communist Party of China is one of the great political forces of modern times. In charge of the destiny of a fifth of humanity, it survives despite the collapse of similar systems elsewhere. Few however understand the sources of this resilience, or, for that matter, what the Party itself stands for.

The third edition of this concise core textbook offers students a comprehensive introduction to the politics, economy, culture and society of modern China, while grounding all of these areas in the context of China's recent history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.