China's World View: Demystifying China to Prevent Global Conflict

by David Daokui Li

A distinguished Chinese economist offers a timely, essential exploration of China’s perspective on economy, government, society, and its position in the world. Dr. David Daokui Li has served as an advisor to senior Chinese Communist Party leaders as well as major multinational corporations and international economic institutions. Writing in response to the growing anti-Chinese sentiment and alarmed by the threat of war, Dr. Li pulls from his wealth of firsthand experience to demystify contemporary Chinese society and advocate for understanding between China and the West. In this urgently needed and fascinating book, he explains the inner workings of a rising superpower to help the world understand how it works―and how to work with it. In Li’s hands, an economic and political system that often baffles Westerners becomes coherent, sophisticated, and logical. He begins by explaining how two thousand years of history―from Confucian philosophy and ancient imperial dynasties to Communist Party chairmen from Mao to Deng Xiaoping―profoundly influence China’s leadership today. Li brings the reader into high-level meetings he attended with figures including Xi Jinping, showing China’s approach to governance. Many Westerners imagine that China’s economy and society are as rigid and ideological as Soviet Russia. In his far-reaching exploration of the Chinese economy―from state-owned enterprises, private businesses, the stock market, education, media and the internet to real estate, the environment, and much more―Li reveals that China’s economy and society are in fact diverse, dynamic, and flexible. In demystifying contemporary Chinese society, Li helps readers reconceptualize contemporary China and the implications of its growth. He asserts that China’s rise will be beneficial for the global order, holding out the hope that with shared understanding and mutual learning the Chinese and Western systems will eventually find a way to peacefully coexist.

Genres: China, Politics, Nonfiction, History, Economics, International Relations, Audiobook

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 9, 2024

Reviews

[Lizzie S · Rating 4 out of 5]

China's World View: Demystifying China to Prevent Global Conflict is the first book written by David Daokui Li, a Chinese economist and professor. As stated in the title, he wrote this book in order to educate westerners about China's government, economy, and culture in order to challenge misunderstandings that he fears could lead to war. Originally started in the early 2010s, he worked on this book for many years and as relationships between China and the West became more strained.

While this definitely has a slant - it is written for a specific purpose and aims to argue that China's success is good for the world - it was a very well-written, concise, helpful account of some basics of China's functioning and perspectives. As someone who doesn't know very much about the systems of governance in China, I found this book to be fascinating and educational.

Thank you so much to David Daokui Li and W. W. Norton & Company for this ARC through NetGalley. China's World View: Demystifying China to Prevent Global Conflict will be available for purchase January 9th. I definitely recommend it for those interested in geopolitics and macro economics, especially readers in Western Europe or the United States.

[Emmet Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good. It features an array of high-level discussions on a really wide range of topics about China specifically and even international relations/globalization/macroeconomics more broadly. It’s written in an introductory-level way that makes each of the chapters feel approachable but not dumbed-down. It’s definitely a book intended to be more “breadth” than “depth”, but that’s fine with me and it certainly achieves this aim.

-1 star for occasionally feeling a little to propaganda-y. It feels like this was scrubbed by a censor who wanted to make it read like it wasn’t scrubbed by a censor, and that makes such scrubbing seem even more obvious to me. That being said however, I’ll admit that there are probably some latent Western biases present in my reading of this book, so take this -1 with a grain of salt I guess.

[Joseph · Rating 2 out of 5]

The short version: I'm pretty critical of this book. It ignores or downplays information that goes against the narrative of the Chinese government. It serves as a passable introduction to China for someone who has never read anything about China before, and it does serve as a decent introduction to what the mainstream/official narrative is, but the whole time I felt that I did not trust the author. It feels as if this book has gone through a censorship approval, and has been scrubbed. A much better book would be Debating China: The U.S.-China Relationship in Ten Conversations.

Many things in the book seem to be true/factual in a simple sense, but belie a different truth. I'll provide three examples.

In the prologue the author states "I do not face any specific pressure or incentives from inside China to say certain things, since I am an academic economist and not a government official." While it may be true that he doesn't face any specific pressure or incentives, anyone who is a professor at a Chinese university would face consequences for publishing a book that is contrary to the official narrative. Many professors have lost their jobs for doing exactly that. Anyone in a position of authority or influence in China faces repercussions for not following the official narrative.

In Chapter 1 the author writes "In many noneconomic aspects, China has also often placed second behind the United States, and sometimes has even placed first. Examples include the publication and citation of scientific papers, number of granted international patents, and expenditure on research and development." But what about the quality of patents, the quality of the scientific papers? The book Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Dragon?: Why China Has the Best (and Worst) Education System in the World does a nice job describing the difference in China between quality and quantity. Professors and scholars in China are strongly incentivized financially by their institutions to publish, even more so than the pressure that exists in the US or Western European countries. At the end of the day, we care about the outputs (useful research results) more than the inputs (money spent on R&D).

In Chapter 4 the author writes "China is the only major country that has not engaged in any warfare in the past four decades." This is also true in a simple sense: the last war that China fought was when it attacked Vietnam in 1979. But there have been a variety of military actions since then, including some against Vietnamese citizens. So it is true that China hasn't engaged in warfare, but China's military forces have fought the citizens of other countries. Overall, I think the statement is true, but is also ignoring a lot of nuances.

There are also many times where the author basically claims that some people think X, but X isn't real so these concerns can be dismissed. He does this with very little explanation or evidence. An example from Chapter 1 is here: "the concern that China threatens Western democracies is unfounded because, in the Chinese system, the government is overwhelmingly concerned with domestic affairs. China’s diplomacy is and will be centered around earning respect rather than tangible interests." That is a fairly strong claim, which needs some evidence to support it.

Another example is in Chapter 8: "Xi Jinping is very ambitious, aiming to become one of the world’s most progressive leaders... he has demonstrated that China under his leadership wants to be a leader in globalization. In January 2018, he made such a proclamation in his speech at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum." It was actually January 2017, not 2018. If you read the reports of it, you would see a large gap between words and actions. The speech was lauded as good in contrast to what Donald Trump was spouting, but it was very different from the policy behavior of the Chinese government. China has new censorship apparatus and a harsh crackdown on dissidents around that same time; hardly the bastion of progressive globalization.

Additionally, the author sometimes makes claims that seem to directly contradict reality. The clearest example of this was regarding the South China Sea: "for many years, the Chinese approach has been to ask involved countries to recognize the disputed sovereignty claims while negotiating a way to share the benefits of economic development in the region, such as oil drilling." But in 1988 the PRC and Vietnam fought near the Johnson Reef (about 70 Vietnamese died), and in 2011 a Chinese frigate fired shots at Philippine fishing boats. Maybe these incidents are exceptions, and the general trend has been nicely asking involved countries to recognize disputed sovereignty? Well, Chinese maps don't show the territory as disputed, but as Chinese.

A smaller note, there seemed to be a strong theme of Chinese exceptionalism, essentialism, or orientalism throughout the book. Ideas of China being special or unique are quite common in China, and they are common in this book as well, as if a foreigner cannot possibly understand the deep complexity of Chinese thought.

[CA · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s not China’s world view. It’s his. Trust me, don’t waste your time on this nonsense book.

[Matthew · Rating 2 out of 5]

presidential term limits? a thriving real estate industry? this is... extremely out of date for something released in 2024; propaganda that misses its mark and manages to frighten rather than soothe.

[CatReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

David Daokui Li (b. 1963) is a Chinese economist, currently working a professor of economics at Tsinghua University in Beijing, though he completed his doctorate and spent time working as a professor in the US from the 1980s-early 2000s. Li's stated motivation for writing this book is that he feels Westerners don't understand China, and that other books on this topic haven't adequately captured the Chinese perspective as they're largely written by Westerners who have limited exposure to China. Li promises to write a more balanced, nuanced book so that we outsiders can understand China's viewpoints, which are crucial to avoid potential global conflicts arising from cultural misunderstandings, even at the expense of his own career (he claimed that publishing this book would likely damage his own credibility in China). To me, though, this book was decidedly not balanced --it felt heavily biased and sympathetic toward China, and not very nuanced in Li's comparisons to Western philosophies. For instance, Li discusses how China's political leaders are very focused on their legacies and act very carefully accordingly, while in the US, presidents' misdeeds are forgiven and forgotten at the end of their term; the implication is that Westerners are too fickle to view history in the long view. Li did have interesting insights into how the Chinese Communist Party operates. Still, he shied away from controversial topics like Xi Jinping's seemingly endless retention of the presidency that many in the West consider a dictatorship, the genocide against the Uighurs, and China's increasingly surveillance-minded state, and gave a very rosy, pro-China narrative of political conflicts in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

I'd recommend reading this book alongside others with differing outlooks for a more balanced picture, including:
Red Memory: The Afterlives of China's Cultural Revolution by Tania Branigan
We Have Been Harmonized: Life in China's Surveillance State by Kai Strittmatter
The Impossible City: A Hong Kong Memoir by Karen Cheung
Waiting to Be Arrested at Night: A Uyghur Poet's Memoir of China's Genocide by Tahir Hamut Izgil
Little Soldiers: An American Boy, a Chinese School, and the Global Race to Achieve by Lenora Chu
AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order by Kai-Fu Lee
The Big Nine: How the Tech Titans and Their Thinking Machines Could Warp Humanity by Amy Webb

[Xaver · Rating 4 out of 5]

Professor Li is an economist from Tsinghua University and dean of the Schwarzman program. Due to his large following on social media he is a familiar name to many educated Chinese. His book is a sincere attempt to improve relations between China and the West—a laudable task given the current political climate.

Li’s descriptions and explanations of Chinese politics and society will be interesting for readers that are not familiar with the “Chinese perspective”. Even the accomplished Sinologist will benefit from the clarity of his arguments and the occasional anecdote about high level meetings with ministers and sometimes the Premier.
The central thesis of the book is that China’s rise will be beneficial for the world, whereas a cold or hot war will be detrimental for all parties involved. Li outlines three benefits of China's rise to the global community. First, continued growth in China will open new economic opportunities and create jobs in the West. Second, China’s technological innovativeness will generate global public goods particularly in the fight against climate change and the exploration of space. Third, competition from China is beneficial for the West because it forces Western companies and states to be more innovative and constantly improve themselves.

While certainly debatable, Li’s arguments are clear and refreshing. Having said that, the book does indeed have a number of problems, which I’m afraid will lead many readers in the West to dismiss it as mere propaganda.
Although the book is generally very reflected, it sometimes has a defensive undertone and generally avoids any outright critique against the Party. A good example is chapter two about the importance of “history” in Chinese society. The author completely ignores attempts by the Party to mold the Chinese conception of “history” according to its wishes, such as the Four Cardinal Principles.
On other occasions, I found his arguments a little naive, for example his claim that internet censorship in China will gradually be rolled back as the Party becomes more secure in its power. Li’s claim that “history” acts like a check on the power of Chinese leaders because they are overly worried about their legacy, also falls into this category.
Finally, the author tends to essentialize a particular form of Chinese culture. For example, arguments like “respect is more important for Chinese diplomacy than material gains”, are based on a core of truth but are exaggerated in the cultural absolutism in which they are presented.

All in all, although I disagreed with the arguments in the book on many occasions, I found it enjoyable to read and a worthwhile attempt to mediate between the Chinese and Western perspective in the heated political environment today.

[fre · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mass surveillance: Mao’s ultimate dream of total control is here. 'Thought crime' like in 1984: it is a real thing in China. The author justifies this extreme behavior of the state as a convenient means to get rid of petty crime or to fine capricious motorcycle-drivers like himself. How incredibly naive.

No mention of the numerous political re-education centra (visible on any satellite map) which are basically concentration camps to provide free labor for multinationals. You can end up there before you know it. No trial needed. In China you can suddenly just stop existing.
No mention of Tibet.
No mention of the fate of the Uyghurs who are being crushed physically, emotionally and culturally: a disgrace to humanity.

The book did a good job of displaying the workings of the strict hierarchy of the CP and its different organs. I certainly learned a lot. For that I give the book 3 stars.

But one has to consider this book as propaganda, since only the nice stuff is mentioned. Yes, there is indeed some good news about modern China, BUT AT WHAT PRICE?

[Paul Wang · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was so objective and lacked substantive evidence for Li’s superficial views of China. Totally agree with one of the reviews that this is not China’s world view. I do not recommend.

[Lian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This definitely started out as an academic paper :-) I know a lot about the history and culture of China, but not the way the poltiical system works, so this book bridged that gap in my knowledge very well. His statements about the idea the government acting as a benevolent parent matched up with my own observations and experiences.

I do think he wad being a bit disingenuous about some of the motivations of the leaders, and a bit naive about the views of the United States towards China.

I appreciate he highlighted the importance of history and culture to modern Chinese society, something it seems like none of the talking heads in the US media seems to understand (or are willfully not understanding). I've been under dual propagandas my whole life, so getting the chance to understand the context of things from a Chinese viewpoint was very informative.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a hard book to rate or review because it not only boils down to what you think about the information but whether or not you trust the messenger. Although the author definitely makes China sound like it has nothing but good intentions, it is not without criticism of some of the philosophies that lead to shortcomings particularly in fostering the possibility of individual genius like an Einstein, Jobs, or Gates. There is also criticism of the one child per family policy that was adapted in the early communist regime. Just as I would say of any book written about my country, this should be read and considered as one of multiple perspectives and be compared to the others.

[Levent Kurnaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot tell how one-sided the China view in this book may be; however, even if it is seriously one-sided, it is still worth reading and understanding.

[JennyB · Rating 3 out of 5]

It has been startling to hear the media begin discussing China as though it is some sort of neo-Soviet Union threat, not to mention the nonsense our former idiot savant (heavy on the idiot part) president spewed on the topic. This book refutes the notion that China is a threat to the West: as a developing nation, its primary interests are economic, not colonial. Let's hope the dudes stirring up a new Cold War panic can pause in their McCarthyite fear-mongering long enough to pay attention to that message.

As a related aside, I am curious why some readers have summarily dismissed this as propaganda. Li seems pretty moderate to me. He doesn't exactly sing the government's praises, and does refer to some of the more unsavory practices. The man lives under an authoritarian regime - what did people expect him to say? It's a horror, so he can lose his livelihood? Or, it's all great, which really would be propaganda about it? Did these people actually read the book, or is this a knee-jerk reaction they'd toss at anything written that diminishes the threat?

Regardless, this is interesting and informative, and I learned a good bit from it. I know it's not gonna be a bestseller, but I do wish it would be more widely read than it likely will be.

[Grass Grabs · Rating 1 out of 5]

Li wrote "I try to be as honest and matter-­of-­fact as possible" in the prologue, but apparently he is a liar. For example, "There are three features of the Chinese approach to news media and the internet, as well as freedom of speech in general." in chapter 11 is just hilarious as there are so many people being caught into jail just because their words on the Internet.

Li is just yet another example of Chinese propoganda. But he is right in one thing, which is that China will never threaten western democracy. China is in great crisis as western coutries are derisking from coorperations with it.

[Luke Mastrogiorgio · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to give it an extra star for all the laughs.

One of my favorite spins in the book is defending the disastrous One Child Policy. Li explains that this was actually a good policy because it reduced China's carbon footprint despite the fact this period coincides with an exponential rise of emissions.

[Alex Helling · Rating 4 out of 5]

At this precise moment it feels like the world is driven by the USA with President Trump gobbling up all the airtime, redrawing alliances, remaking the international system. This makes it easy to forget that that for much of the last two decades the concern in parts of the west has been that China might do something equally shattering to the system. China has been portrayed as the big hegemonic threat, repressive, rapacious, warlike, and threatening. A state that wants to remake the world in its own image and is often turned into a bogeyman in the process. This is a viewpoint of the west looking into China. David Daokui Li in ‘China’s World View’ aims to provide the viewpoint from China looking out. Explaining how China works and its leadership thinks to the west. This book provides a perspective on the rise of China that is often neglected and well worth considering.

Pros
Explains China’s system and viewpoints simply
Does what it sets out to do in demystifying Chinese government
Cons
Comparisons meant to illuminate don't always work
Sometimes too simplified

Li from the outset points out that his book is not going to be brilliantly written as English is not his first language. That may be the case but it is still perfectly readable. It may not have beautiful flowing language but that is not something most who read factual books have as the main requirement. What it does do is break down ideas well and explain the elements of the chinese system making it simple and easy to understand.

I do like a book that sets out exactly what it means to do. “This book aims to provide an insider’s view of how China works and therefore why, rather than causing fear, the rise of China should be recognised as being good for the rest of the world.”(p8) Li explains his motivations as being “avoiding any conflict due to misunderstandings” (p6) and why he is a good, reliable, and trustable authority who has an inside view but cant be seen as being just a mouthpiece for the state. All this is necessary. The debate on China’s rise is rather shrill between those who are very pro China and argue almost everything about it is great, and doomsters for whom China is a disaster, is taking advantage of the world order economically (a bit ironic writing that while Trump’s tariffs cause chaos in that economic order), and is engaged in a long term plan to gobble up chunks of territory (Taiwan, South China Sea, East China Sea, bits of the Himalayas) and become the global hegemon.

Li uses a lot of comparisons with the west which are sometimes more positive than can be justified so the reader needs to be on the watch for somewhat understandable boosterism and attempts to explain using western examples that may not be entirely helpful. For example he suggests that the National People’s Congress being representatives of provinces and municipalities is “indirect election. This is like the old practice in Massachusetts, in which the state legislature elected the state’s senators.” (p59) which gives a very positive spin given that the Massachusetts legislature were themselves elected through popular democratic vote whereas the Chinese provinces and municipalities are not.

He also juxtapositions China with western countries where that might be considered in China’s favour. Thus he (as many others have) points to China’s ability to get building done and that this is down to local government. Somewhat humorously he tells of an example he uses is the Wanda group failing to get a complex built in Davos concluding it was “as the Davos local government does not have the same amount of authority to coordinate with local residents.” This is rather unfair to Swiss local government who almost certainly have more powers than Chinese and might have rather more to do with his description of the Wanda centres as “the centres resemble a matchbox with several buildings thirty to forty stories high. They are usually light brown in color, in a modern style” (p132) well thank goodness the residents of Davos had the taste to throw that out!

Ultimately these are minor problems. The biggest rather is simply that the book is too short for the scope. At only 256 pages it is not long and has an immense area to explain; government at several levels; the economy; enterprise; education; the environment; foreign policy and international relations. This would be a lot to go through even in a much bigger book. The issue here would be that remaining at a shallow level means we avoid getting into the problems that might be dug up if going deeper.

There can be few people who want conflict between the two greatest powers in the world so helping understanding is a great goal. Hopefully the book will have helped provide some demystification. A book worth reading for the Chinese perspective on the world alone. But beyond that it is an interesting introduction to China’s system and ideas.

[Stacy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a hard book to peg down. I would definitely describe myself as a layperson as regards China with just a basic background of major negative points in its' history like the Cultural Revolution, the Nanjing Massacre and Tiananmen Square etc. I picked up the book as I have been interested in the rise of China and heard debates on both sides of it.

All in all I have divided feelings about the book. I would say about a third of the book was new information to me that helped me better understand the background of the Chinese political system and that was extremely helpful. About a third of it was difficult to wade through as much of the book seems to be written more as an academic treatise and felt really dry with some of it feeling a little like a thesis project along the lines of, "Next, I'm going to show you xyz..." which felt formulaic. This was a little distracting to the overall message at times. The final third as others have mentioned felt more like propaganda and veiled or as the author would have it, "coded language" criticism of other governments. I didn't mind the criticism, and saw the points in some of it while I agreed to disagree with other parts of it. The propaganda was more irritating and could have done without. Overall however I felt that I learned a decent amount about the mindset of the Communist party and how it operates in China as well as how the many large businesses operate within the country and outside of it.

[Robert Hasler · Rating 3 out of 5]

I want to say from the start that I think this book accurately articulates a world view, just maybe not the one on the cover. Or maybe, more accurately, it reflects a specific kind of Chinese worldview which is not all that different from a specific kind of America worldview. It’s one shared by many people, regardless of nationality. It is, in the end, what others might call a neo-liberal worldview, albeit with unique Chinese characteristics.

At many times in the book, the author describes political and social proclivities that are broadly shared by America’s neoliberal elite: preference for globalism, distrust of unregulated speech platforms, and deference to expert-led, technocratic social and political engineering. In that sense, the book is helpful for dissecting what American populists are really critiquing: is it China as a geopolitical adversary or a transnational ideology?

My sense is that the author is altogether right to critique the American foreign policy establishment for its own ideological motivations. Yet, this is not a pure call to replace ideology with a prudential realism, but to replace it with an ideology of another name.

Will probably return to this review after chewing on it some more.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very informative and eye-opening read!

This book changed a lot of my views on China. Starting from the understanding that China is now more socialist than communist to the inner workings of its politics, government, economy and society to the non-existence of a "China Model", there is a lot to unpack.

The author's key message is that the rise of China is not a threat to the rest of the world, and in fact, will provide many global benefits. He does this in 17 chapters:
1: China as Number Two
2: History Is the Key to Understanding Today’s China
3: The Chinese Communist Party
4: The Central Government
5: Local Governments
6: Corruption
7: Government in the Economy
8: State-Owned Enterprises
9: Private Entrepreneurs: Heroes or Villains?
10: Education
11: The Media and the Internet
12: The Environment and Climate Change
13: Population and Population Policy
14: Is China a Super Bubble?
15: Is There a “Chinese Model”?
16: China’s World View
17: Why Is the Rise of China Good for the World?

[Scott Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Audiobook) You will get a different perspective on China from this one, written by a man who spans both worlds. China is definitely the American bogeyman, but Li will say that it probably should not be the case. His big argument is that China is too inward-looking/focused to be an external threat. Granted, China is big on making sure that no one is in a position to be able to dictate to them, or tell Beijing what it can and can't do. Thus the military and economic build-ups. Yet, for all of Li's efforts, it does not seem likely that he was be able to overcome the current trend of anti-China rhetoric and positions in America. Not sure that China will stay internally focused either. War is not inevitable, but there is a classic amount of misunderstanding and lack of knowledge, especially when it comes to America trying to figure out China.

A well-thought out book with good perspectives. Probably many will not like or accept this work, but it is worth the read to at least get a different perspective on things. The rating would be the same regardless of format.

[Arnoud De Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well-researched and well-written book about contemporary China, from the point of view of a respectable economist, who is close to the current powers in Beijing.
Is it biased? No doubt. Do I agree with his points of view and analysis? No! Is it in some cases somewhat outdated? Yes, as China's politics and economics are quite dynamic. Is it interesting and worth reading? Yes!
I travel quite often to mainland China and SAR Hong Kong for professional reasons, and have a reasonably good understanding of how current China works. The book helped me to structure my own perceptions and ideas, and filled in quite a few blanks I still had. It suggests why in many ways China for historical reasons is organised differently from our western liberal democracies.
I recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand 'Official' China. And don't get upset by some parts of the book that become quite close to a pro domo defense of China. I think it is fair to do so, and you have to read the book with a critical mind.

[Corentin Xa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Happy to have read that book. Main takeaways are
- China is internally focused
- China does not aim to colonize, but is more interested in economic success
- the comunist party isn't really communist, it's a centralized system always evolving
- the Confucian governance method is: the government is a parent that will take care of its children, the citizens are children who delegate and trust the government to take care of them

I would have liked more answers to negative things the West thinks of China. More answers to controversies. Some are addressed like Taiwan.
The book feels biased towards "China is all good". And it reads like a sweetened academic account of facts, like the author admitting to breaking rules by driving his motorcycle where he shouldn't and not frequently getting fined (in the context of mass surveillance being only for major crimes). Sounds like a too specific case to represent how the gov and surveillance work.

[Benjamin Henley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great to get the perspective of China’s political and economic structure from a Chinese scholar who has history working within the government. I really enjoyed an insider giving perspective on how a citizen interacts with these structures.

I only remove a star because I feel like this book was limited with his connection to China, so he can’t be critical when necessary. This is exemplified most on the subject of Taiwan, the state surveillance apparatus, and US loss of industry. In the instance of Taiwan, he explains that most countries (all but 12) do not formally recognize Taiwan as a country so it’s alright that eventually it will be taken into the Chinese mainland. He explains that it will have some self sovenernty (like Hong Kong) and China can abade the past of the century of humiliation. These potions upset me because the rest were so great. This shouldn’t be your only review of modern China, but as a supplement it is great.

[Erik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recommendable read on an interesting and important topic

Well written book that cover a complex and broad range of topics related to contemporary China. I’m my view the book proved a sort of relatively easy to digest introduction to an improved understanding of the sort of ‘operating system’ of the Chinese society. This operating system is of cause on some topics sometimes different to that of the typical ‘Western’ system, but different is not necessarily bad it is just different. While it for a range of other situations is remarkably similar.
For me the only thing that could be better was if the secondary title of the book had been the primary and the primary been made the secondary.

[Veljko · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is, flat out, a horrible piece of propaganda. The most dangerous kind. It wraps itself into fake objectivity, mixes cherry-picked truths with distorted narratives... There is a saying that "a little bit of education is a very dangerous thing" - well, I would say, "a little bit of truth is a very dangerous thing."

I do not post negative reviews often - but this... people need to know what they are buying.

The irony is that this book made me a lot more scared about China than I was before....

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty interesting. BLUF is claim that China cares about respect and that the form of government works for China. It’s fairly apologetic. The big piece it felt like was missing was how Chinas need for respect clashes with both human rights and free speech here at home. There’s a few other things it feels like it doesn’t take into account like how it feels like Xi is supporting Putin a lot more recently and Chinese propaganda in a bad way.

Overall interesting

[Alvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Much of what Americans believe about China and how they see the world is incorrect or incomplete. This book gives an accurate account that is based on real data, and an insider’s view of the market, the government and its cultural. I’m an American that’s lived and worked in China the last 18 years and can vouch for the authenticity of the narrative Li is painting. It’s a must-read if your work relates to China or you’re interested in a deeper understanding of the country.

[Si Hui · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very easy to read and provides good, high level information on China, such as how the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) works, local governments, SOEs, education, media and the internet, the environment, population etc.

The author also explains why the world should not be afraid of the rise of China and argues that the rise of China will benefit the world.

Slightly propaganda-y at times but still a good read.

I’ll like to explore other books, including ones with opposing views!

[Harry Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of course the book is biased, but let’s suspend that for a while and consider that everyone is.

A different perspective about what really is happening in China. You can filter out what you consider as opinions from the author and just consider the facts that he is pointing to … and you will still recognise differences vs the Western opinions.

This was a good read for me as I travel in China.

Came across this book as recommended by Derek Sivers.

[Brian Donald William Norman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very interesting look at the inner workings of China, all to explain China's world view. Yet what's really happening is this book is propaganda. There is never any mention of the negative side of China apart from corruption. No reference to the Uighars, the Secret Police, the executions and imprisonment of anyone speaking out against China. If you can recognize how slick this book is, written by one of the upper inner circle of China to prove China is actually not interested in expansion because, as he says, according to Confucionism they can't export their ancient culture... but what about China's military aggression, hacking the western world's computer systems, and, oh yes, guess this guy missed the fact that COMMUNISM is always seeking expansion.