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What Does China Think?

Mark Leonard
Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics: Entrepreneurship and the State

Yasheng Huang
The Changing Face of China: From Mao to Market

John Gittings
Modern China: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)

Rana Mitter
Axis of Convenience: Moscow, Beijing, and the New Geopolitics

Bobo Lo
China: The Fragile Superpower

Susan Shirk
China in Africa (African Arguments)

Chris Alden
Governance and Politics of China (Comparative Government & Politics)

Tony Saich, Vincent Wright
Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty

Bradley K. Martin
Getting Rich First: Life in a Changing China

Duncan Hewitt
The Private Life of Chairman Mao

Zhisui Li
For Tibet, with Love: A Beginner's Guide to Changing the World

Isabel Losada
China: A Wolf in the World?: A Wolf in the World

George Walden
Understanding Contemporary China
The Interior (Red Princess Mysteries)

Lisa See
Charm Offensive: How China's Soft Power Is Transforming the World (New Republic Book)

Joshua Kurlantzick
The Coming Collapse of China

Gordon G. Chang

From 1978 through the mid-1990s, China had the fastest-growing economy in the world, and it appeared poised to dominate Asia, and beyond, in the near future. But in The Coming Collapse of China, after focusing on facts rather than theory and looking at the conditions behind the spectacular numbers, Gordon Chang presents the People's Republic as a study in wasted potential: "Peer beneath the surface, and there is a weak China, one that is in long-term decline and even on the verge of collapse. The symptoms of decay are to be seen everywhere." For a nation that has always taken a long view of history, time is quickly running out. Chang believes China has about five years to get its economy in order before it suffers a crippling financial collapse--a timeline he seriously doubts can be met.
By failing to complete its reformation, China has maintained an illusion of progress, Chang explains, but in reality has caused more problems than opportunities for would-be entrepreneurs and foreign investors. Because reform has not been fast enough or comprehensive enough, China is unable to benefit from its modernisation or keep up technologically with much of the world. The government's reluctance to get rid of state-owned enterprises has not only rendered China uncompetitive just as it prepares to join the World Trade Organisation, but is causing the banks--which were forced to lend money to SOEs (state-owned enterprises)--to fail alongside them. Widespread unemployment, corruption within the Communist party, millions of resentful peasants, and a general lack of leadership further threaten stability. The Communist party "knows how to suppress but it no longer has the power to lead", Chang writes, arguing that the party is maintaining control only through the use of brute force and the people's instinct for obedience--popular support that could deteriorate as soon as the economy plunges. Simultaneously, societal ills such as gambling, drugs, and prostitution have become huge problems.
Stuck between Communism and capitalism, "China is drifting, unwilling to go forward as fast as it must and unable to turn back". It is uncertain what will be in the way when the giant finally falls. --Shawn Carkonen, Amazon.com
Japan's Lost Decade: Origins, Consequences and Prospects for Recovery (World Economy Special Issues)
The East Asian Development Experience: The Miracle, the Crisis and the Future

Chang Ha-Joon
A Bitter Revolution: China's Struggle with the Modern World

Rana Mitter