Liao Chengzhi, born and partly raised in Tokyo, was known as China's most prominent Japan specialist. Tracing Liao's career and his involvement in China's policy towards Japan from 1949 until 1983, the author argues that Liao's background in "United Front" activities was a decisive influence on the formation of the approach towards Japan during the fifties and sixties, and suggests that this in turn has influenced the style, if not the substance, of China's approach to other industrialized, non-communist societies. Distributed by St. Martin's Press. Annotation(c) 2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)