Cradles of Civilization: China.

• Author: Kreyche, Gerald F.

edited by Robert E Murowchick University of Oklahoma Press, 1994, pp. 192, $34.95

Reviewed by GERALD F. KREYCHE American Thought Editor, USA Today, and Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, DePaul University, Chicago, III.

Tracing the history and culture of China--probably the longest continuous civilization in the world--this book tells about its land, peoples, resources, and history from the ancient past to the present. Contributing international authors were chosen for their specialties and ability to distill reams of data into easy-reading prose.

Pres. Richard Nixon's visit to China reopened the door to this mysterious nation, and we have been peering inside ever since. It is a country that has suffered upheavals such as the opium wars, the Boxer Rebellion, the split between Mao Tse-tung and Chiang Kai-shek, the Cultural Revolution of 1966-76, and Tiananmen Square. Its legacy includes Peking man; gunpowder; bronze, jade, and terra cotta art; a love of poetry; and respect for elders and tradition.

China's economy is booming; many of its people are hungry for democracy; and xenophobia is being conquered. Governed by principles of Confucianism for nearly 2,000 years and by communism for the last five decades, China is changing once again. Unquestionably, Americans must get to know better this nation with its 1,000,000,000 people making up one-fourth of the world's population and occupying one-tenth of...