In applying the two interpretative themes of “frontier” and “ethnicity”, the book examines the externalization from and internalization to China by a number of the tributary affiliates and outlying territories of the by-gone Qing Empire (e.g., Korea, Vietnam, “Outer” and Inner Mongolia, Tibet, and Xinjiang). The historical developments dissected here are certain overlooked aspects of the otherwise well-scrutinized international history of 20th-century East Asia. These helped transform the territorial domain and ethnic composition of the Chinese state from “imperial” to “national”.

The book is unique in blending analyses of “domestic” and “international” developments involved in China’s modern reincarnation, and in providing an integral narrative that links historical themes pertinent to the eastern and western halves of China. While the frontier characteristics of the Chinese state in the pre-industrial age are not news to the field of China studies, this is the first study contending that “frontier China” has remained a fitting characterization of the rising Asian giant.