Encyclopedia of Modern China

Commentators on international affairs often predict that China will, one day, be the most influential country in the world, and this prospect has now called forth a reference book of appropriately impressive proportions. It comprises 870 entries and about one and a half million words, by nearly 500 contributors. Of these, about 200 are ethnically Chinese, but only 18 appear to live in China proper, plus another 45 in Hong Kong or Macau (the significance of these numbers will appear later). The text is updated to the end of 2008.

The supplementary material is similarly voluminous, including a chronology from...