"Chinese fleets sailed through Asian waters as far as Africa in the early fifteenth century, when Western explorers were just beginning to probe the great oceans of the world. The Chinese turned back while the Westerners pressed on, to dominate virtually the whole world, including China, by the nineteenth century. Would world history have been different had the Chinese not withdrawn from the seas?

This book surveys the history of the West's relations with China over the five centuries since Westerners established sustained contact by sea with Asia; what the West has gained from China; what it has demanded and imposed on it; how it has reacted to China's resurgence in the twentieth century - these and other issues are explored with illustrations from contemporary sources."--BOOK JACKET.