[pjmorris]

FTA: “We are studying the past to understand and shape the present and future,” said Wang.

I was of the persuasion that "History is written to say it wasn't our fault" - Sam Phillips, but it may play a more active role than that.

I recently read and enjoyed 'The Silk Roads', Frankopan, which, to oversimplify, takes as its thesis the idea that "...for millennia, it was the region lying between east and west, linking Europe with the Pacific Ocean, that was the axis on which the globe spun." I was persuaded that he has a point.

I'm currently reading 'The New China Playbook', Jin, together with an ideologically-varying friend as a way to base our discussions more on knowledge than opinion.

So I'm particularly interested in what others have found helpful in understanding China's past and present. Any recommendations?