The author investigates the internal logic and evolution of Mao's theory in terms of various themes. Beginning with a consideration of conflict, which in Mao's view is a given and permanent component of society, Professor Starr then takes up the individual concepts of knowledge and action, authority, class and class conflict, organization, participation and representation, political education, political history, and political development. Originally published in 1979. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

The author investigates the internal logic and evolution of Mao's theory in terms of various themes. Beginning with a consideration of conflict, which in Mao's view is a given and permanent component of society, Professor Starr then takes up the individual concepts of knowledge and action, authority, class and class conflict, organization, participation and representation, political education, political history, and political development. Originally published in 1979. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

After ten years, John Bryan Starr has thoroughly revised and updated his classic introduction to the background of, the data about, and the issues at stake in China's present and future. In the new edition, Starr seamlessly weaves in additional material on the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, the Chinese government's ongoing efforts to curb the influence of the Internet, and the intensifying trade disputes between the United States and China. Succinct, modest, and refreshingly forthright, "Understanding China "remains a necessary guide for the uninitiated to everything from the Chinese economy and political system, to its intellectual freedoms and human rights, to its relationship with the rest of the world.