China's Road to the Korean War: The Making of the Sino-American Confrontation

by Chen Jian

Overview

China's Road to the Korean War

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231504577
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	01/05/1995
Series:	The U.S. and Pacific Asia: Studies in Social, Economic and Political Interaction
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	339
Lexile:	1690L (what's this?)
File size:	564 KB

About the Author

Chen Jian is Professor of the History of US-China Relations at Cornell University.

Columbia University Press

Table of Contents

Preface to the Paperback Edition
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Map of China
Map of Korea and China's Northeast

Introduction

Part One. The Emergence of a Revolutionary Power

1. Revolutionary Commitments and Security Concerns: New China Faces the World

Part Two. Friends and Enemies: A Stage Set for Confrontation

2. The Recognition Controversy: The Origins of the Sino-American Confrontation
3. "Learning to One Side": The Formation of the Sino-Soviet Alliance
4. Taiwan, Indochina, and Korea: Beijing's Confrontation with the U.S. Escalates

Part Three. The Road to Intervention

5. Beijing's Response to the Outbreak of the Korean War
6. After Inchon: The Making of the Decision
7. The Decision Stands the Test: China Crosses the Yalu

Conclusions
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Columbia University Press

What People are Saying About This

John Lewis Gaddis

This is an extraordinarily thoughtful and carefully researched account of a critical episode in Cold War history, based on important new Chinese sources. It is highly revealing - and highly recommended.

Michael Schaller

Brings an exciting new dimension to our understanding of why China entered the Korean War. This highly readable work challenges many basic assumptions about how Mao Zedong and his contemporaries saw world politics and set Chinese foreign policy along a revolutionary path. It has important implications for understanding Sino-American conflict not just in the early 1950s but throughout the Cold War era.

Editorial Reviews

Chen's China's Road to the Korean War... is the most carefully researched and seriously argued discussion of the subject.

The Nation - Warren I. Cohen

Since 1950, Western military planners, journalists, and scholars have tried to determine the role of China and the Soviet Union in the outbreak of the Korean conflict. Through the use of recently released Chinese documents, conversations with People's Republic of China scholars, and in-depth interviews with people who were present at key decision-making meetings, Chen Jian has been able to furnish answers to some of the most nagging questions.

Choice

Brings an exciting new dimension to our understanding of why China entered the Korean War. This highly readable work challenges many basic assumptions about how Mao Zedong and his contemporaries saw world politics and set Chinese foreign policy along a revolutionary path. It has important implications for understanding Sino-American conflict not just in the early 1950s but throughout the Cold War era.

Michael Schaller