The real and potential power of China, the world’s most populous nation, has long been seen as a threat by its smaller neighbors and global powers alike. The Fear of Chinese Power provides a history of this perceived threat from the 1880s to the present day, and offers rich historical context to an enduring and current concern.

Focusing on the United States, but also exploring perceptions from Britain, Germany, the Soviet Union and Japan, this book asks why these fears exist and shows how they have played out on both a strategic, diplomatic level, and in the public sphere. Taking a chronological approach, the chapters explore themes such as western opposition to Chinese immigration, international views of China’s new republic, hopes of friendship during the rule of Chiang Kai-Shek, the Korean and Cold Wars, Communist China’s economic growth, the Chinese in popular culture and China as a modern global power.

Taking economic, military and cultural vantage points into account, The Fear of Chinese Power explains why a powerful China has been a mainstay of the western imagination since the 19th century, and reveals a history which has shaped international perceptions of China to the present day.