Wild Ride: A short history of the opening and closing of the Chinese economy

by Anne Stevenson-Yang

How did China grow from an impoverished country to become the second largest economy in the world in just over four decades? And how did this economic miracle come to an end, as seems the case today?To understand the story of China's rapid rise and equally rapid fall, author Anne Stevenson-Yang takes us back to the beginning, when Deng Xiaoping took over and opened its moribund economy to Western money and know-how. Stevenson-Yang, who lived and worked in China for a quarter of a century, traces each decade of China's tumultuous development, from the roaring 1980s to today's malaise.In her first-hand account, Wild Ride, Stevenson-Yang concludes that China is returning to the poverty and isolation of the Mao era. What happened to the promise of the political change that would come with the opening of the economy? And the institutional reforms of the last four decades?The author says all that change was all an illusion. Communist China, being interested only in survival, played along and the West fell for it. With the rise of Xi Jinping, that capitalist experiment is over. 'It took me years to understand that I was an unwitting player in an elaborate dramatic confection.'

Genres: China, Economics, Politics, History, Asia, Nonfiction

176 pages, Paperback

Published April 16, 2024

Reviews

[Calle Reutercrona · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intressant om Kinas politik, ekonomi och historia. Påminner i vissa delar om Browders ”Red Notice” minus allt hans självförhärligande.

Edwin, tror du skulle gilla denna!

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a wild ride in a number of dimensions - a short whirlwind of a description of China's opening and, under Xi, closing and what that means for the country and for the world. The writing is crisp and the topic interesting, but the generalizations are breathtaking. I craved footnotes- there are none- although there's an extensive bibliography. It's useful for a quick overview, but then I'd recommend Bethany Allen's Beijing Rules.

[Dickie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed the book and share the author's dispeptic take on contemporary China and it's conservative political traditions as I've been learning from Anne for more than 30 years. Most enjoyed the opening chapter which is more focused on Anne's personal experiences, but marvel at her mastery of understanding the opaque world of policy making, rent taking, and corruption.

[Lars · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super interesting account of modern Chinese economy, if heavily editorialized and partial to the author's experience. Easy to read, but also easy to buy into the author's negative tone and confident predictions about China. The author sounds correct, but it makes me uneasy for the only book-length account of modern China that I might read to be so obviously negative.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars. I don't know if I trust this author. She presents herself as not knowing much, at the beginning and in her acknowledgments at the end. The tone is very casual, with many cute Western turns of phrase. The cover is a very accurate depiction of the tone of the book. I appreciated the brief insights into ordinary people's lives in a few sections. I don't recommend the book or the author.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very good booklet about China in recent years. It has profound observations and predictions about China. Reform and opening up has been abolished and China has returned to a closed state. And the giant rat that hangs over this ancient country is still full of vitality. 24-71

[Alec L · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's slightly unfair to say that this book does not (at least reliably) say anothing about China. Certainly, it does say quite a lot about the author's perspective (which I think is perhaps a useful example of a certain type of American perspective), and it does serve as a record of certain historical facts and figures, arranged in chronological order.

[lebaishi · Rating 5 out of 5]

很好的一本书，对改革开放以来生活经济的变化有一个大概的了解。

[Tirath · Rating 5 out of 5]

A rare, brutal reporting of the Chinese tryst with capitalism.

The author's dire prediction of what happens next to China makes for great reading.
Too many books are optimistic or ' balanced ' ; and this book really shows the naked reality of the emperor.

Whether its too jaded a view, time will tell :)

I guess we are close to a great final chapter in 2024;
Notes:
Discovering LGFVs to stimulate economies
The nexus of Hukou, Urban allocations, industrialisation and bank lending
97 Crisis, 98's collapse, and 98-02 recapitalisation sowing the seeds for a GoGo era
Stories of empty projects, nutty expenses and a cascade of incentives that had everyone competing
And a strong core philosophy that nobody is bigger than the party
- Which is what 2024 looks like.


Great reading.

[Elaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

We all hold pessimistic future. Very harsh but critical. The first book of the book club, and I also enjoy it.