The Mind of Empire

"Christopher Ford tells us in The Mind of the Empire how chairman Mao gradually transformed himself in the minds of the people of Communist China from a great revolutionary hero into a false god and political messiah."—The Christian News

"Considers how history and Confucian notions of order and hierarchy shape China's foreign relations."—The Chronicle Review

"Christopher Ford tells us in The Mind of Empire how Chairman Mao gradually transformed himself in the minds of the people of Communist China from a great revolutionary hero into a false god and political messiah."—Christian News

"Seeks to explicate what [Ford] sees as key differences in the Chinese and Western normative understandings of international order; how they have shaped China's relations with the rest of the world, particularly Western Europe and the United States; and implications for the future."—Book News Inc.

"Writing primarily for Western policy-makers and the interested general audience, Ford seeks to explicate what he sees as key differences in the Chinese and Western normative understandings of international order."—Book News Inc.

"Ford's reading of Confucius is both shrewd and instructive, with implications for contemporary policymakers. China may currently be governed by a hybrid of entrepreneurial capitalism and rigid central control—the world's largest fascist state, strictly speaking—but its ruling principles and aspirations remain grounded in Confucian thought...The Mind of Empire is an ideal guidebook for contending with the People's Republic: a scholarly analysis of Chinese history written with considerable authority and flair, and a sobering account of what dealing with Chinese power and ambition means to us—and, especially, to them."—The Weekly Standard

"A much-needed and an erudite contextualization... [this book] will benefit immensely those interested in the history and strategic culture of China's foreign policy."—The China Quarterly

"Not since John King Fairbank's 1968 edited volume The Chinese World Order, has there been a single volume published that so effectively encapsulates centuries of China's traditional worldviews (plural) and its practices of statecraft. Ford's study is fluidly and engagingly written, making dense history and philosophy both accessible to non-historians and relevant to current concerns...the book should become standard reading for all courses on Chinese foreign policy."—David Shambaugh, Journal of Chinese Political Science

"Christopher A. Ford's China Looks at the West is an important study establishing a foundation for understanding China's approach to the United States, which is the most important international relationship early in the twenty-first century.

[. . .] The book's wide-ranging chapters examine in considerable depth a variety of topics of importance to anyone seeking to understand the contemporary thinking of Chinese leaders dealing with the United States.

In sum, the book provides a well-written discussion of several important arguments involving China's approach to the United States that will be of interest to general readers and specialists. It provides a great amount of food for thought along with well-argued assessments [. . .]"—H-Net Reviews