Napoleon warned: 'Let China sleep; for when she wakes, she will shake the world.' Lawrence James's imposing history analyzes the relationship between Britain and China from the beginning of the Opium Wars in 1839 to the transfer of power in Hong Kong in 1997. The THE LION AND THE DRAGON reveals the role Britain played in awakening China, as well as the relations between the two countries during the period when an awakened China indeed shook the world. Lawrence James also follows the parallel paths of four competing empires - the British, the Chinese, the Russian, and the Japanese - during the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as the fortunes of a fifth imperial power, the United States. Successive British governments regarded China as a source of wealth to be protected. Local objections were met with violence (the 'Opium Wars' of 1839-42, 1856-7, and 1859-60) whose results proved that the Chinese emperors could not protect their country. Indian troops were deployed in every campaign and manned the small British garrisons in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and other ports. However, Britain did not seek to make China another India. Instead, they allowed the emperors and their officials to rule, as long as they were obedient and friendly to British needs. Catalysts were the internal stability and fiscal responsibility that were the lubricants of trade. A united country with economic and military power, and aware of its distant past as one of the great countries of the world, is determined to reverse its recent history. Lawrence James brings to life an era when the divisions of this vast country encouraged foreigners to regard it as a treasure house to exploit. This warning from history explains why China's current leaders tolerate neither dissent nor civil unrest.