BEIJING, July 23 -- More Chinese people are reading about global history as they seek to better understand the position of the country they once proclaimed as the Middle Kingdom in historic events.

The sales of world history books doubled among history books in the last five years, according to Dangdang, one of China's biggest online bookstore.

Several global history books entered Dangdang's list of top 20 history bestsellers.

Global history is also a hot subject among Chinese historians, most of whom are trying to find out how the country's past is linked with the history of other countries. Many universities have set up global history research centers.

Zhang Xupeng, a global history researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said in the academia world, no country cares more deeply about global history than China and the United States.

"People here are viewing the world with a fresh perspective and China's position in the world is rising," the researcher said.

The world's second largest economy is expanding its influence in shaping the global economy and world order.

It started the Belt and Road initiative to foster closer ties with Asia and Europe. A development bank funded by the BRICS countries started business on Wednesday.

Chinese love to read about global history as their country moves back to center stage, said Zhang Yiwu, a professor at Peking University.

"China needs to clearly understand its role in the wider world," the professor said. "It should especially understand the history of major powers."

Chinese politician Wei Yuan published a book about world geography and history in the 1840s. The book became a best seller a decade later, but in Japan. This year, a book about Jerusalem was a bestseller on the Chinese book market.

Few global history bestsellers were written by Chinese historians. The scholars said global history studies is dominated by American researchers.

"If such structure changes, it will probably be changed by some new explanations brought up by Chinese scholars," said Yue Xiukun, a history associate professor at Capital Normal University.

"The explanations will not be based on the the Western experiences of the last several hundred years," she said.