In the last 20 years China has risen to the second largest economy in the world but very little is remembered about the turbulent interaction between China and the Western powers throughout the nineteenth century. Questions such as how did Christianity and Confucianism affect political thought and social systems? Why did the industrial revolution not take place in China, despite its many early inventions? Examine the first economic and military encounters between the British and Chinese Empires. Today, these past lessons can serve as powerful insight for what the future might bring for China and the rest of the world.