Some readers may think that the first chapter on participatory politics and legal reform is the key, as these laid the foundation for an open and civil society in China. Others may view economics as the real driver of history, so the last chapter may come as a surprise—the last chapter shows how much was accomplished in China until Japan’s 1937 invasion – from an extensive transport infrastructure and a flourishing industrial base to a very diversified and globally integrated market.But I like the chapter entitled “Open Minds” (pages 53-81). Here I trace the many ways in which people from all walks of live were familiar with the world beyond their community. During the first half of the twentieth century China’s educated professionals were able to match their foreign peers in many fields, ranging from avionics to zoology. A wide range of books were published, the media world was lively, a huge amount of material from outside of China was introduced.Ordinary people too were often familiar with global trends, as illustrated magazines and radio programmes disseminated information about every aspect of the modern world, whether new agricultural techniques or the fluctuating price of silk on the international market. A global outlook was promoted by the many modern schools which appeared after 1900, as even small establishments deep inside the hinterland introduced their students to the biographies of great foreign figures like Lincoln, Washington, Napoleon, Watt and Edison.Perhaps needless to say, a mere handful of students went on to pursue careers as consuls and ambassadors abroad. And only a fraction of the population was fully literate. But opportunities for education were more diverse than ever before, as government organisations, private societies and religious associations, funded by local elites, merchants guilds or foreign benefactors, contributed to the spread of new ideas.Religious expression was also allowed to thrive in a climate of relative tolerance, while culture bloomed in the absence of a monopoly on power and knowledge. All that diversity was considered “bourgeois” and squeezed out under Mao and his followers. China’s current leaders now scramble to rebuild what their forefathers destroyed.Like Russia under Stalin, China under Mao witnessed the disintegration of international links in economics, politics and culture, a gradual closure of minds which constituted a radical reversal of what the country had experienced for several decades. In the end, when we look at the twentieth century from a critical distance, the communist period in China, as elsewhere, has been a tragic diversion away from engagement with the modern world.So can we interpret the “Open Door” policy since 1978 as a return to a pre-revolutionary tradition of engagement with the world? The optimistic interpretation argues that increased interdependence with the rest of the world might eventually lead to participatory politics and the rule of law. On the other hand, the pessimistic view points at the use of a relative degree of economic openness to shore up the power of a privileged elite at the expense of the civil liberties of ordinary people. Whatever the case may be, the overlooked cosmopolitan experience of the republican era is of even greater relevance today, when even in the People’s Republic globalisation rather than revolution has become the guiding issue for the twenty-first century.