What Does China Think? - Hardcover

Leonard, Mark

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1586484842 ISBN 13: 9781586484842

Publisher: PublicAffairs,U.S., 2008

Synopsis

We know everything and nothing about China. We know that China is changing so fast that the maps in Shanghai need to be redrawn every two weeks. We know that China has brought 300 million people from agricultural backwardness into modernity in just thirty years, and that its impact on the global economy is growing at unprecedented speed. We have an image of China as a dictatorship; a nationalist empire that threatens its neighbors and global peace. But how many people know about the debates raging within China? What do we really know about the kind of society China wants to become? What ideas are motivating its citizens? We can name Americas neo-cons and the religious right, but cannot name Chinese writers, thinkers, or journalists-what is the future they dream o for their country, or for the world? Because Chinas rise-like the fall of Rome or the British Raj-will echo down generations to come, these are the questions we increasingly need to ask. Mark Leonard asks us to forget everything we thought we knew about China and start again. He introduces us to the thinkers who are shaping Chinas wide open future and opens up a hidden world of intellectual debate that is driving a new Chinese revolution and changing the face of the world.

About this title

Review:

"Tucson Citizen," August 21, 2008 "[Leonard's] excellent new book is essential reading for anyone interested in the changing global landscape of the next century."

From the Back Cover:

We know everything and nothing about China.

We know that China is changing so fast that the maps in Shanghai need to be re-written every two weeks. We know that half the world's clothes and footwear have a 'Made in China' label on them. We know that China has brought 300 million people from agricultural backwardness into modernity in just 30 years - something that took 200 years in Europe - and that the emergence of 1.3 billion consumers into the global economy will force us to re-write our geo-political maps. We know that China matters. But the more we learn, the less we understand. In this vital new book Mark Leonard goes behind the monolithic facade of the country's communist party and reveals from first-hand encounters what sort of society China will become in the future, what makes it tick, what ideas are motivating its citizens, what arguments are raging in its think-tanks, universities and journals. This book will ask you to forget everything you thought you knew about China - and start again.

About this edition

• Publisher: PublicAffairs,U.S.
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1586484842
• ISBN 13: 9781586484842
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 176