Xiaobing Li's comprehensive examination of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) offers new insights into the military's central place in modern Chinese society. A History of the Modern Chinese Army goes beyond the usual Western assessments of the Chinese military 'threat' and also expands on the politically constricted scholarship of native Chinese military historians. Li offers a sweeping yet thorough study of modern Chinese armed forces in the context of the nation's cultural traditions, its Communist revolution, and recent technological innovations that have radically transformed all aspec.