China's defeat at the Opium War and the signing of the Treaty of Nanjing with Britain in 1842 opened a new chapter in modern Chinese history. Over the next 160 years, China underwent the Self-strengthening Movement, the Hundred Days' Reform, the 1911 Revolution, the May Fourth Movement, the Northern Expedition, the Xi'an Incident, the Sino-Japanese War, the Civil War, the Korean War, the “Great Leap Forward” and the “Cultural Revolution”, while in the past 30 years it has lived through the era of reform and opening up. Together, these events reflect the changes that the ancient kingdom has experienced amid the turbulence of the modern world. In generation after generation, a host of significant figures and familiar names have emerged – including Lin Zexu, Li Hongzhang, Dr Sun Yat-sen, Chiang Kai-shek, Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. However, its ascent has not been smooth, and what has been achieved today has been no easy success. In 2009, on the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China and the 90th anniversary of the May Fourth Movement, we invite you to travel with us through history as we revisit the modern chapters of China and gain an insight into the metamorphoses this “grand dragon” has gone through.