Over the course of China's twentieth century, the dynastic system crumbled; the traditional literati-gentry elite disappeared; state-society relations were transformed several times; three revolutions - of 1911, 1928 and 1949 - created new systems of governance; and a modernizing nation-state emerged. By the beginning of the twenty-first century, an economically dynamic China looked very different from the vast agrarian empire that had survived into the twentieth century. In many ways, the reforms that were under way by the early 1980s could be considered a fourth revolution: China opened up markets, welcomed foreign investment, and developed business opportunities - resulting in double-digit annual growth that released millions from poverty and turned China into a major trading nation. Nonetheless, in both its successes and failures, contemporary China still shows many legacies of the past. Above all, the political drive to make China into a world power has its roots in the sociopolitical transformations of the late nineteenth century, when Chinese elites first resolved to follow the path of 'wealth and power'. A brief chapter on such a large subject can only present an outline of key developments. This chapter focuses on attempts to build a new nation by extending the 'rights and duties' of citizenship to previously disenfranchised groups over the first half of the twentieth century. It then briefly discusses the changes of the Maoist (1949-76) and reformist (1978-) eras. During the twentieth century, membership in the nation came to count as a - if not the - primary marker of identity, along with family, class and locality.