Presents asymmetry theory, a different paradigm for the study of international relations, derived from China's relationships with its neighbors and the world. This title brings together key writings on the theory and its applications to China's basic foreign policy, particularly towards the United States and the rest of Asia.

Pt. I. Asymmetric international relationships. ch. 1. Recognition, deference, and respect : generalizing the lessons of an asymmetric Asian order. ch. 2. The United States, human rights, and moral autonomy in the post-Cold War world. ch. 3. Dissecting soft power : attention, attraction, persuasion. ch. 4. The dilemma of regional powers. ch. 5. Democratic defeatism : reconsidering the logic of asymmetric wars -- pt. II. Underpinnings of China's foreign policy. ch. 6. China between region and world. ch. 7. Traditional China and the globalization of international relations thinking. ch. 8. Sustainable international leadership : lessons from the Sino-Vietnamese relationship, 968-1885. ch. 9. China as a normative foreign policy actor. ch. 10. Asymmetry theory and China's concept of multipolarity -- pt. III. China and the United States. ch. 11. The brightest house : civilization and asymmetry. ch. 12. The reality and limits of American power. ch. 13. How size matters : the United States, China, and asymmetry. ch. 14. United States and China's rise : parity and the accommodation of civilizations -- pt. IV. China and Asia. ch. 15. Asymmetric triangles and the Washington-Beijing-Taipei relationship. ch. 16. The United States and Sino-Vietnamese relations. ch. 17. Asymmetry and systemic misperception : China, Vietnam, and Cambodia during the 1970s. ch. 18. China and Southeast Asia : asymmetry, leadership, and normalcy. ch. 19. Vietnam and China in an era of economic uncertainty. ch. 20. Korea and Vietnam : similarities and differences in their relationships to China

Economic development and a dramatic improvement in living standards in many parts of the People’s Republic of China during the past three decades of economic reforms have been hailed by the Chinese Communist Party and many commentators in the international arena as the most spectacular achievements in the history of humanity. However, three decades of economic reforms have also transformed China from one of the world’s most egalitarian societies into one of the most unequal. This book offers a comprehensive account of inequality in China from an interdisciplinary perspective. It both draws on, and speaks to, the existing body of literature that is generated mainly in the fields of economics and sociology, while extending its scope to also examine the political, social, moral and cultural dimensions of inequality. Each chapter addresses the question of inequality from a specific context of research, including housing, health care, social welfare, education, migration, land distribution, law, gender and sexuality. Moving beyond traditional socio-economic theories, the contributors to this volume explore a wide range of social, political, economic and cultural practices that result from, as well as further entrench, the inequalities in Chinese society. Importantly, the essays in Unequal China probe the hidden causes of inequality - namely, the role of state power and the importance of culture - and underline how both state power and cultural factors have a key part to play in legitimating inequality. With an innovative approach that moves beyond the economic and sociological roots of inequality in China, this volume is a welcome addition to what is a growing field of study, and will appeal to students and scholars interested in Chinese culture and society, Chinese politics and Asian social policy.

This study, based on primary sources, deals with the linguistic development and polemical uses of the expression Unequal Treaties, which refers to the treaties China signed between 1842 and 1946. Although this expression has occupied a central position in both Chinese collective memory and Chinese and English historiographies, this is the first book to offer an in-depth examination of China's encounters with the outside world as manifested in the rhetoric surrounding the Unequal Treaties. Author Dong Wang argues that competing forces within China have narrated and renarrated the history of the treaties in an effort to consolidate national unity, international independence, and political legitimacy and authority. In the twentieth century, she shows, China's experience with these treaties helped to determine their use of international law. Of great relevance for students of contemporary China and Chinese history, as well as Chinese international law and politics, this book illuminates how various Chinese political actors have defined and redefined the past using the framework of the Unequal Treaties.

America's longest wars have been 'small wars'. This book explains how power differences shape - but don't determine - international relationships.

Argues that neither the 'Chinese world order' of tribute relations nor the Westphalia model of sovereign equality ever operated effectively in Asia, but suggests that the past does offer strong indicators about the shape of a new order in Asia.

The value of asymmetry theory is demonstrated in the dynamics of the Sino-Vietnamese relationship.