There is so much to learn about China and these books are a good start Posted SatSaturday 19 updated SunSunday 20 DecDecember 2020 at 5:23am We still know so little about China, a country that has been the centre of global power for centuries and is reshaping the 21st century. ( Print text only Cancel The American Civil War comes immediately to mind but it isn't even close. As many as 750,000 Americans died between 1861 and 1865 in the conflict between northern and southern states. But a decade earlier, a civil war in China left between 20 and 30 million people dead. The Taiping Rebellion ranks among the worst conflicts in human history.