This book examines Chinese foreign policy think tanks and their influence in China's foreign policy towards Japan between the late 1970s and late 1990s. Being one of the first attempts to examine the rise of Chinese think tanks through empirical case studies, this book has demonstrated a growing pluralistic trend in post-Mao China's foreign policy-making process, it has also confirmed the variety of the role played by International Relations (IR) think tanks regarding different foreign policy issues.
In addition to official documents and research works, the book has included a lot of memoirs of Chinese diplomats, and a large number of interviews with Chinese officials and think tank scholars. It is a scholarly research, but its in-depth analysis and well-written style makes it a highly enjoyable work to read.