I'm taking a class on modern China that starts at the decline of the Ming dynasty and goes into modern day. I need to choose a book that's related to this period for a paper. Obviously this is a really wide subject area so if I could get some recommendations I'd be very grateful!
hi! this sort of question is definitely allowed here. If you don't get any specific responses, do check out the /r/AskHistorians book list: there are several recommended books on China.
I have found the Search for Modern China by Jonathan Spence to be the best broad overview of modern Chinese history, beginning with the Ming dynasty. It's extremely readable and enjoyable.
Spence is probably the go to if you just want one book to cover modern China.
There is also Fairbank's China: A New History, which is a comprehensive history and not just Ming/Qing and later. Fairbank also contributed volumes to the Cambridge History of China covering the late Qing period leading up to Xinhai.
Rana Mitter's Forgotten Ally covers WW2.
Ming China by Dardess covers Ming obviously but it especially emphasizes how a dynasty survived a succession of weak emperors before finally collapsing.
ReOrient by Andre Gunder Frank discusses the Chinese economy at its height in the context of early globalization (16th-18th centuries)
MacFarquhar's Mao's Last Revolution is about the Cultural Revolution.
Yang Jisheng's Tombstone is a massive and exhaustive tome about the great famine.
I would also suggest Endymion Wilkinson's "Chinese History: A Manual"
It is essentially a survey of various aspects of Chinese history with extensive sources cited for further reading. I bought the copy I have almost 15 years ago and still use it all the time.