AP Photo

Sixty years ago, China was in a chaotic condition. Few people inside or outside the battered country would have bet much on its chances of survival over the long term. The devastating effects of Japan's invasion and occupation were visible from northern Manchuria to the southern border; the Soviet Union had shown no great faith in China's future as a viable state and was unimpressed by Mao Zedong's eccentric and personalised leadership style; Great Britain and France seemed still intent on shoring up their economic presence in Hong Kong and south-east Asia; Korea was divided and unstable; Tibetan policy was uncertain; the Chinese Nationalist forces were consolidating their anti-Communist bastion on Taiwan; and the US, though nominally neutral in China's protracted civil war, had...