Looking to the past to understand the future

Contrary to the popular historical narrative that China's exposure to the West in the 1800s hastened a slew of problems for an inward-looking Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), historian Odd Arne Westad argues that the Qing was not only eager to expand outward but benefited immeasurably from Western creativity and knowledge.

In his new book Restless Empire: China and the World Since 1750,which was named winner of the 2013Asia Society Bernard Schwartz Book Award for its contribution to advancing the understanding of contemporary Asia, Westad traces China's development through its interactions with the out side world from a Chinese perspective.

"There's very little in this book about a supposedly inward-looking China, or an isolated China that is self-satisfied about its past successes, but instead the China I see back then and today is a China that is open to change and always has been, "Westad says.