'Baogang He develops a "real utopian" democratic alternative to China's empire-based approaches to Tibet and Taiwan. A unique strength of He's approach is that it combines indigenous deliberative practices, such as those within the Confucian tradition, with the modern architecture of democracy. The result is an optimistic but realistic view of possible futures for Tibet and Taiwan within a post-imperial China.' Mark E. Warren, University of British Columbia Problematises China's current policies towards Tibet and Taiwan and offers a fresh democratic approach. China is facing a national identity crisis. This is compounded by the political situation and aspirations of Tibet and Taiwan, where significant proportions of both populations do not identify with the Chinese nation-state. Given the prevalence of democracy on the world stage, questions need to be asked about whether democracy can realistically address the problems in China's national identity. Chinese nationalists argue it cannot and Chinese liberals remain unduly silenced, but this book opens up a dialogue in which Chinese liberals can offer viable alternatives in defense of key democratic principles and governance. It also problematises existing hard-liners' realist policies towards Tibet and Taiwan by examining how and under what conditions democracy can or cannot provide an answer, and analyses the different meanings, practices, institutions and various impacts of democracy with regards to the problem of China's national identity. While it presents the difficulties and obstacles to the democratic approach to the respective Tibet and Taiwan questions, it upholds the search for a political space in which democratic governance in China can feasibly be developed. Baogang He is Head of Public Policy and Global Affairs at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and Chair in International Studies at Deakin University, Australia. He is the author of The Democratization of China (1996), The Democratic Implications of Civil Society in China (1997), Nationalism, National Identity and Democratization in China (with Yingjie Guo, 2000) and Rural Democracy in China (2007). Cover images: top image courtesy of the author, bottom image courtesy of Getty Images