This book attempts to describe how China in the past - as well as in our time - utilizes the applied practices of its vast ancient cultural heritage to gain ascendency in the global political and economic arenas, with its focus on the world's major capitalist countries. It is inescapable that such practices will inevitably have militaristic overtones as China strives to become a global superpower. Jacob G. Ghazarian, D.Phil., FRAS, is a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. He is a member of Wolfson College, The University of Oxford, where he continues his research on the traditions and sociopolitical trends concerning the indigenous peoples of the Levant and the Orient.