China's Foreign Emergence under Mao: A new wave of historiography is identifying Mao's final years as the period when China retreated from the isolation of the Cultural Revolution and began opening up to the capitalist West.

The article examines China's foreign relations under the leadership of Mao Zedong when China retreated from the isolation of the Cultural Revolution and began opening up to the West and its Cold War allies, based on historiographical revisions to this periodisation. Topics discussed include China's opening to trade to buy textiles and foreign-made machines and technology, the Foreign-Three Program as a move towards integration with the world economy, and cultural exchange with the U.S.