1. Introduction

This chapter starts by presenting several Chinese international actions associated with two very different foreign policy patterns. The often brutal hard power approach related to territorial disputes such as those in the South China Sea and at the Indian border, the dramatic increase of military and especially naval capabilities, the recent launching of a Chinese-led security community, and the ‘wolf warrior’ intimidation of foreign journalists, politicians, and governments stands in stark contrast with China’s relationality-based normative power actorness well-illustrated by the working of the Belt and Road Initiative. An understanding of China’s bifurcated foreign policy is then proposed that is based on the existence of two different Chinese identities respectively associated with the concepts of the 19^th-century-style territorial empire and 21^st-century-style postmodern global power. The chapter proceeds by briefly discussing the factors that have led to the unusual coexistence of these identities, their origin and evolution, and the virtuous circle–characterized by a specific division of labor–they form in the context of the construction by the leadership in Beijing of a new, Chinese-led international order. The book’s organization is then scrutinized, which includes a brief presentation of each chapter’s content. Finally, relevant methodological aspects are discussed.