The Great Transformation: China's Road from Revolution to Reform (Paperback) by Odd Arne Westad & Chen Jian

The first thorough account of a formative and little understood chapter in Chinese history

“A superb history of China’s transition into and out of the Cultural Revolution. . . . Chen and Westad—two of the best archival historians of Communist China writing today—coolly but vividly recount the extraordinary drama of this metamorphosis.”—Julia Lovell, Financial Times

Odd Arne Westad and Chen Jian chronicle how an impoverished and terrorized China experienced radical political changes in the long 1970s and how ordinary people broke free from the beliefs that had shaped their lives during Mao’s Cultural Revolution. These changes, and the unprecedented and sustained economic growth that followed, transformed China and the world.

In this rigorous account, Westad and Chen construct a panorama of catastrophe and progress in China. They chronicle China’s gradual opening to the world—the interplay of power in an era of aged and ailing leadership, the people’s rebellion against the earlier government system, and the roles of unlikely characters: overseas Chinese capitalists, American engineers, Japanese professors, and German designers. This is a story of revolutionary change that neither foreigners nor the Chinese themselves could have predicted.

Review

Named one of the Financial Times’s Best Books of 2024 in History

“By choosing to begin with Mao’s final years, Messrs. Westad and Chen build a strong case for their account of how and why events played out after the leader’s death.”—Maura Elizabeth Cunningham, Wall Street Journal

“[A] compelling book by two of the best historians of the modern Chinese experience.”—Tony Barber, Financial Times

“Odd Arne Westad and Chen Jian make an effective partnership. . . . [They] expertly and authoritatively cover events inside and outside China during a momentous time in the country’s history.”—Kerry Brown, Literary Review

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Yale University Press

Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 28, 2025

Language ‏ : ‎ English

Print length ‏ : ‎ 424 pages

ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0300285604

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 9780300285604

Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.04 pounds

Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.22 x 0.87 x 9.17 inches