China, Hong Kong, and the Long 1970s: Global Perspectives

"By gathering a group of both eminent and promising young scholars, this volume edited by Priscilla Roberts and Odd Arne Westad presents a series of fresh perspectives and revealing studies on why and how developments in Chinese politics, economy, society, culture, and international relations in the critical yet paradoxical "Long 1970s" had led to China's embrace of the Reform and Opening-up Project, bringing about profound transformations to China as well as the larger world." (Chen Jian, Distinguished Global Network Professor of History, New York University and NYU-Shanghai; Hu Shih Professor Emeritus, Cornell University, USA) "The "long 1970s" - a period of near "existential crisis" in the West and real anguish and transformative change in China. This original volume considers these two inter-related historical processes in the watershed of the late 20th century. The death of Mao, Deng Xiaoping's rise and second revolution, and bewildering changes domestically and in international affairs transformed China. China and the world have not been the same since. These excellent studies open a new field of investigation in China studies." (Gordon H. Chang, Stanford University, USA, author "Fateful Times: A History of America's Preoccupation with China" (2015))

This book explores the forces that impelled China, the world’s largest socialist state, to make massive changes in its domestic and international stance during the long 1970s. The Long 1970s were the years when China moved dramatically and decisively toward much closer relations with the non-Communist world.

This book explores the forces that impelled China, the world’s largest socialist state, to make massive changes in its domestic and international stance during the long 1970s. Fourteen distinguished scholars investigate the special, perhaps crucial part that the territory of Hong Kong played in encouraging and midwifing China’s relationship with the non-Communist world.  The Long 1970s were the years when China moved dramatically and decisively toward much closer relations with the non-Communist world.  In the late 1970s, China also embarked on major economic reforms, designed to win it great power status by the early twenty-first centuries.  The volume addresses the long-term implications of China’s choices for the outcome of the Cold War and in steering the global international outlook toward free-market capitalism.  Decisions made in the 1970s are key to understanding the nature and policies of the Chinese state today and the worldview of current Chinese leaders.