China today bears little resemblance to the country introduced in the first edition of Understanding Contemporary China, published nearly two decades ago. Even in just the past five years, dramatic changes have occurred under the leadership of President Xi Jinping. This new edition of the book reflects those changes, exploring the impact of new domestic policies; China’s role as a behemoth in the world economy; its rapidly modernizing infrastructure; its expanding military presence in the region; the environmental challenges it confronts; and much more. The result is an accessible, well-grounded look at the most crucial issues affecting China today.
Written in a very casual tone which helps the reader to digest information. Covers a wide spate of topics from a very wide vareity of perspectives. A fairly good text book on a fairly interesting subject.
Despite the few informative and interesting chapters, many really dragged on. Writing style was lack luster, but it gained two stars because it still gave information that I did not know prior to reading.