China is the world's biggest nation and yet its impact has been comparatively small in modern world affairs. Now its poverty is giving way to modernity under the impetus of 10 per cent annual growth and the country is opening up to foreign trade and investment. This book examines the main aspects of contemporary China which affect the outside world, from politics to the army, from farming and industry to birth control programmes, and from national unity to diplomacy towards neighbouring states and other powers. Dick Wilson places events in China in the context of what is happening to the Chinese community outside the People's Republic - in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and South East Asia. He also analyzes the trends which will determine China's future. The book conveys the real story of the Chinese people as they approach the 21st century - already named by some as China's century.