Preface to the Paperback Edition Acknowledgments Abbreviations Map of China Map of Korea and China's NortheastIntroductionPart One. The Emergence of a Revolutionary Power1. Revolutionary Commitments and Security Concerns: New China Faces the WorldPart Two. Friends and Enemies: A Stage Set for Confrontation2. The Recognition Controversy: The Origins of the Sino-American Confrontation 3. "Learning to One Side": The Formation of the Sino-Soviet Alliance 4. Taiwan, Indochina, and Korea: Beijing's Confrontation with the U.S. EscalatesPart Three. The Road to Intervention5. Beijing's Response to the Outbreak of the Korean War 6. After Inchon: The Making of the Decision 7. The Decision Stands the Test: China Crosses the YaluConclusions Notes Bibliography Index

Since 1950, Western military planners, journalists, and scholars have tried to determine the role of China and the Soviet Union in the outbreak of the Korean conflict. Through the use of recently released Chinese documents, conversations with People's Republic of China scholars, and in-depth interviews with people who were present at key decision-making meetings, Chen Jian has been able to furnish answers to some of the most nagging questions. Choice Chen's China's Road to the Korean War... is the most carefully researched and seriously argued discussion of the subject. -- Warren I. Cohen The Nation

Brings an exciting new dimension to our understanding of why China entered the Korean War. This highly readable work challenges many basic assumptions about how Mao Zedong and his contemporaries saw world politics and set Chinese foreign policy along a revolutionary path. It has important implications for understanding Sino-American conflict not just in the early 1950s but throughout the Cold War era. -- Michael Schaller, University of Arizona This is an extraordinarily thoughtful and carefully researched account of a critical episode in Cold War history, based on important new Chinese sources. It is highly revealing - and highly recommended. -- John Lewis Gaddis, Ohio University