Modern China presents a dual image: a society transforming itself through economic development and infrastructure investment that aspires to global leadership; and the world's largest and oldest bureaucratic state, with multiple traditions in its cultural, economic, and political life. The modern society and state that is emerging in China bears the indelible imprint of China's historical experience, of its patterns of philosophy and religion, and of its social and political thought. These themes are discussed in order to understand China in the twenty-­first century and as a great world civilization that developed along lines different from those of the Mediterranean. ChinaX introduces new features to make the riches of Harvard's collections, including art, rare books, interactive maps, Harvard in-class footage, and Harvard Business School cases, as well as the expertise of its faculty more accessible to learners worldwide. ChinaX will also take you on virtual “Field Trips,” where you will have the opportunity to meet Chinese entrepreneurs, writers, artists, botanists, administrators, among others, as they give you on-the-ground perspectives on such topics as infrastructure, higher education, agriculture and the environment. We will engage intellectual and religious trends, material and political culture, the local diversity and the national unity, art and literature, and China’s economic and political transformation— past, present and future.