Good account of modern Chinese history, starting from 19th century and going to almost present day, around 2010s? Was a bit hard to follow all the Chinese names, especially while listening. And a lot of the focus was on "big men", rather than looking at what ordinary people where doing or experiencing, or bigger sweeps such as the economy, or geopolitics. Richard Baum seems to really like the nitty gritty of the Chinese Communist Party internal workings and politics. It's a bit sad that his optimistic predictions for China seem so out of date now. Taiwan is a huge problem now, especially after China cracked down on Hong Kong. And China is now more aggressively suppressing ethnic minorities and supporting Russia's aggression against Ukraine.