A compelling, expansive history of the relationship between China and Russia, from the seventeenth century to the avowed friendship of the present  

At the Winter Olympics in February 2022, shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin met to announce that their two states had a friendship ‘without limits’. This was the most recent expression of the delicate relationship the two countries have maintained for four centuries. But this alliance has also proven difficult, and at times even volatile.

Philip Snow provides a full account of the interaction between these two global giants. Looking at politics, religion, economics, and culture, Snow uncovers the deep roots of the two nations’ alignment. We see the shifts in the balance of power, from the wealth and strength of early Qing China to the Tsarist and Soviet ascendancies, and episodes of intense conflict followed by harmony. He looks too at the experiences and opinions of ordinary people, which often vastly differed from those of their governments, and considers how long the countries’ current amicable relationship might endure.

‘An ambitious and wide-ranging study that manages to tell a complex story lucidly, fully engaging the many factors that shaped the development of Sino-Russian relationships.’

Stephen Smith, author of Russia in Revolution

 ‘A comprehensive, thoroughly researched and fluently written account of the history of one of the most important but misunderstood relations in geopolitics. Russia and China share a vast border, and a history stretching back half a millennium. And yet, as Snow shows, beneath the language of partnership we hear today there lurk deep memories of conflict, suspicion, and at times visceral fear. An essential narrative account of a globally important issue.’

Kerry Brown, author of CEO China: The Rise of Xi Jinping

‘Snow accomplishes with brio a seemingly unsurmountable task: a history of the Sino-Russian relationship from its humble beginnings four centuries ago to the strategic partnership of today. Scholarly and richly detailed, it tells the story of a unique relationship across a vast cultural divide. Written by a rare scholar equally at ease in Russian and Chinese, China and Russia is certain to become an essential reference book.’

Franck Billé, coauthor of On the Edge: Life Along the Russia-China Border

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