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Valuable insights into contemporary China
Rebecca Karl's book is a largely informative analysis of the movements which made the country what it is today, says CARLOS MARTINEZ
FUTURE PROOFING: This new housing estate in Hubei is equipped with solar-powered water heating

China’s Revolutions in the Modern World: A Brief Interpretive History
by Rebecca Karl
(Verso, £18.99)

VERSO’S latest offering on China is a concise and thought-provoking overview of nearly two centuries of Chinese revolutionary movements by historian Rebecca Karl, starting with the Taiping Rebellion which broke out in 1850.

The book goes on to discuss the collapse of the Qing dynasty, the establishment of the Republic of

China, the May Fourth Movement, the rise and fall of the United Front between the Communist Party and the Kuomintang, the founding of the People’s Republic, the cultural revolution and the reform period from 1978 onwards.

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