Knowing China
A Twenty-First Century Guide

A new examination of the many contradictions of contemporary China, a society at once capitalist and socialist, free and authoritarian.

Frank N. Pieke (Author)

9781107132740, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 28 July 2016

232 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 1.7 cm, 0.46 kg

'I find this book very interesting and well written. Its innovative concept of neo-socialism is very useful to capture the distinctiveness of contemporary China, which consists of an uneasy combination of different contradictory elements that defies any easy characterization. In addition, this book is very informative because Pieke has done an excellent job in synthesizing the findings in Chinese studies to answer such research questions as: why the communist party will not fall from power, why Chine's economy will continue to grow, but not forever, and why Chinese people have freedom without universal human rights. This, both general readers and area specialists will find this book indispensable for their in-depth understanding of contemporary China.' Alvin Y. So, Pacific Affairs

Contemporary China appears both deceptively familiar and inexplicably different. China is a cauldron of forms of entrepreneurship, social organization, ways of life and governance that are at once new and unique, recognizably Chinese and generically modern. In analyzing and interpreting these developments, Frank N. Pieke adopts a China-centric perspective to move beyond western preoccupations, desires, or fears. Each chapter starts with a key question about China, showing that such questions and assumptions are often based on a misunderstanding or misconstruction of what China is today. Pieke explores twenty-first-century China as a unique kind of neo-socialist society, combining features of state socialism, neoliberal governance, capitalism and rapid globalization. Understanding this society not only helps us to know China better, but takes us beyond the old dichotomies of West versus East, developed versus developing, tradition versus modernity, democracy versus dictatorship, and capitalism versus socialism.

1. Introduction: knowing China
2. Why the Communist Party will not fall from power
3. China's economy will continue to grow, but not forever
4. Freedom without universal human rights
5. From empire to nation, or why Taiwan, Tibet and Xinjiang will not be independent
6. Not just a Chinese century
7. Conclusion: the Communist Party and China's future
References
Index.

Subject Areas: 21st century history: from c 2000 - [HBLX]