Understanding a country’s history is a vital way of understanding its people. In Unequal Treaties and China, author Wang Jianlang looks at how history has affected the nation and how those unequal treaties from foreign powers have shaped China’s policies even up until the modern day.
From the first Opium War (1839-1842) and until the birth of New China in 1949, China was forced to sign multiple unequal treaties by foreign imperialist and invading powers. In these treaties, China conceded many of its sovereign rights in terms of territory and commerce. Ever since the time of the first unequal treaty (the Treaty of Nanjing), the people of China have struggled to invalidate these unequal treaties. Unequal Treaties and China provides a comprehensive overview of China’s history of fighting against these unequal treaties.
About the Author
Wang Jianlang is the President of the Institute of Modern History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), the General Secretary of the Association of Chinese Historians, and the Dean of the Department of Modern History of the Graduate School, CASS. He majors in the Modern history of China’s foreign relations. He is also the author of The Return of Xinjiang to Chinese Central Control during the Last Days of the Sino-Japanese War: A Reappraisal Based on Chiang Kai-shek’s Diary (2010) and other works.