China: Crumpling But Not Collapsing is a pretty new (published in Taiwan at 2017) analysis book by two Chinese-born economists (both or at least one of them have been exiled due to political reasons), and it paints a rather gloomy picture for the future of the Chinese society and its economy.
As you can imagine, this book doesn't get to be published in the mainland China.
And trust me, this book is totally worth reading. Reading it alongside with China's Search for Security, you will find that China: Crumpling But Not Collapsing contains criticism which is even sharper than the former, and the latter pretty much say this out loud: the Chinese government is the main reason why the Chinese society is so unstable and filled with crisis.
How the pair of authors view the issues of China's economy:
(1) The main pillars that can hold up a society (e.g. social security system, belief system, environment protection, civil society etc) had collapsed or close to the point of collapsing, all but the government's iron-fist control over the citizens.
(2) the reigning authority in the China mainland, the Chinese Communist Party, has long become a elite group which serves solely to secure their own ends and benefit, instead of working for the good of the country and its people. (the authors point out rather frankly that the party is currently a band of bandits robbing and cheating benefits from the people and the nation)
(3) Point no. 2 pretty much becomes the main reason why the economic condition and the Chinese society itself are both constantly at risk and in the state of instability.
(4) So, will the Chinese government collapse out of the blue, the authors do not think so. Instead they project that the nation will be trapped in a long period of crumbling and disorder (in every aspects) before it finally reaches a breaking point.
The authors of this book paint a gloomy but realistic picture for the future of China, but as a layman, I think their finding is reasonable and well researched. Therefore it is a shame that two fine economists are forced into exile (by who? You ask?) instead of doing some more good in China.
This is the kind of analysis we actually need on China, doesn't try to make any bold predictions but actually analyzes the current socioeconomic environment.
A thoughtful book on Chinese economic developments. lot of people inside or outside China can only see one aspect of Chinese system, authors of this book have long time being part of past Chinese and exposed to different perspectives, people want to have deeper understanding of Chinese system should read this book.