I would want a browser to start with page 12, the first page of chapter 1, which tells the story of how the CCP built its first international trade network. That project began well before the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. The chapter opens in Hong Kong, where four underground CCP members, all wearing vests stuffed with smuggled gold, are heading to the basement vault of the British Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) building. The four men are part of a clandestine trade mission designed to link the Communist-controlled areas in Northeast China to overseas markets through the British colony of Hong Kong. I hope this chapter is as much fun to read as it was to write. I spent hours in the archives tracking down details that would help readers step into the moment—the weight of the door, the layout of the bank, the interior décor. I want readers to feel the intrigue of the scene because so much of the CCP’s early trade was tied to intelligence, smuggling, and other clandestine activities.I hope the book can help a wide range of readers develop a deeper, more nuanced understanding of how legacies of the past continue to shape the way the Chinese Communist Party sees the world today.

I wrote the book to be accessible to non-specialists, including busy policymakers, partly because I worry about the flattening of the public conversation about China in the United States and elsewhere. Diminished contact between China and the rest of the world explains some of this trend. Covid eliminated many of the personal connections that have long been critical to understanding China and Chinese foreign policy. Rising tension between China and the United States hasn’t helped.Reading this book is no substitute for meaningful exchanges, but it can add depth to the debate about China’s changing place in the world. This is a worthwhile pursuit given the stakes involved for all of us, whether we are China specialists or not.