By some estimates, China will likely surpass the United States to become the leading economic superpower by 2016. The world’s most populous country now boasts a rapidly expanding military and growing influence in global affairs. But these accomplishments have come after a long period of dynastic decline, foreign occupation and civil war. China experts Orville Schell and John Delury say China’s pursuit of national greatness after generations of humiliation has come to define the Chinese character. They say this determined quest for wealth and power remains the key to understanding many of China’s actions today. A conversation about the history of Chinese nationalism and how it paved the way for the world’s most populist country to become the global economic powerhouse it is today.