SUMMARY
Throughout the past century, and before, U.S.-China relations have been marked by large swings in mutual perceptions and attitudes. Over the last decade in particular, with the end of the Cold War and the loss of the strategic glue that once bound the two nations together, significant challenges in the bilateral relationship have developed, in part because of misperceptions and lack of understanding between the two sides. Chinese Images of the United States examines how China has viewed the United States and the American people throughout modern history and how those perceptions have influenced Chinese foreign policy and U.S.-China relations. Chapters, written by leading Chinese and American experts, focus on the diverse range of views of the United States held by different groups in China, including government officials, students, and the military, among others, and how those views have developed over time. The volume is a complement and counterpart to an earlier work, also edited by McGiffert, China in the American Political Imagination (CSIS, 2003), which explored the evolution of U.S. perceptions and images of China.