Modern China: A Guide to a Century of Change Review

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Modern China: A Guide to a Century of Change ReviewI bought this book because I have had the good fortune to work on a number of teams at the b-school with a number of students from China. It seemed to me that I could benefit from knowing more about the China of today rather than the Red China I grew up with.
The value of this book can best be described by the reaction of the Chinese students to it. They couldn't put it down. They flipped from topic to topic and talked about it with each other and with me. They praised the articles the book contains.
It isn't a narrative. It is a series of articles on important topics and arranged alphabetically. It contains many valuable maps, photos, and diagrams. You can dive in the book anywhere and jump around to find things that interest you and just enjoy this book over and over again. Well done!Modern China: A Guide to a Century of Change Overview

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China 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution Revisited: Can It Happen Again? (China the 21st Century) Review

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China 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution Revisited: Can It Happen Again (China the 21st Century) ReviewWhat makes the author's books stand out is their unorthodox ideas and methods. This book is no exception. There are volumes of literature on the Great Cultural Revolution (GCR). There are online libraries devoted to GCR. Almost all who experienced or have studied GCR agree that GCR is another manmade disaster of Mao. This book, however, suggests another perspective which is surely unorthodox. The main thesis of the book is that Mao started GCR mainly to remove a major obstacle of social advancement - career bureaucrats, and create a new culture to prepare for the reforms that would be led by Deng. The career bureaucrats are those who fought for Mao to defeat the Nationalists, and became government officials at all levels. This thesis is dramatically different from the consensus view of most others - Mao started GCR to maintain his power.
Many other popular books about China are based on volumes of evidence. For example, Tombstone: Documentation of the Chinese famine in 1960s by Yang Jisheng is based on interviews, surveys and documents that the author gathered for a decade. Mao: The Unknown Story by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday are based on large volumes of declassified documents of the USSR and the authors' field survey. To the contrast, this book is largely derived from analytical thinking. The thesis is constructed in a way similar to how Einstein's relativity theory was formed.
Unfortunately, it is impossible to reach convincing conclusions in most social matters by analytical thinking. For example, the Iraq War still divides people 8 years after it started. Those, including me, who believe it is a counterproductive war wasting more than a trillion dollars of our taxpayers' money still cannot scientifically prove our belief, and vice versa. This book's effort to construct a thesis on a social event by analytical reasoning is bound to leave many holes. I think the thesis is intriguing, but disagree with it.
Career bureaucrats, most of whom were ex-military officers, were a problem in China, but the main problem was Mao who started one campaign after another leading to the deaths of tens of millions of people. Of course, Mao did not believe this, but he apparently knew many of those bureaucrats who had knowledge of the CCP's internal politics were realizing he was the problem, and Liu Shaoqi, Deng Xiaoping, Zhou Enlai were gaining popularity among them at the cost of Mao's reputation. That is why the vast majority of people believe Mao started GCR to protect his dictating authority. The people who were hit the hardest by GCR were not corrupted or incompetent bureaucrats. They usually were talented, popular and independently thinking officials and intellectuals. This did not happen by accident. It is intentional because they posed the greatest threat to Mao's authority.
It is very hard to accept the author's view that Mao was trying to create the conditions for Deng and his lieutenants like Zhao Ziyang to start the remarkable reforms that happened after Mao's death. Firstly, Deng was purged by him during GCR. If Mao had lived a few years longer, the Gang of Four might have had the chance to exterminate him one way or another. Secondly, Deng immediately started a process of reversing everything of GCR upon regaining power after Mao's death - restoring the systems (e.g. the education system) destroyed by GCR, rehabilitating those (officials intellectuals) purged by GCR. It is hard to believe this is what Mao foresaw and wanted.
The book asserts GCR allows promoting reformers like Deng and Zhao fast. This contradicts facts. Deng became General Secretary of the Secretariat of the CCP back in 1957. That position allowed him to run daily affairs with more influence than anybody else. Eighteen years later during GCR, he was made the First-ranking Vice Premier. This was not a promotion. Zhao was the Secretary of the CPC Guangdong Committee before GCR, and was appointed the Secretary of the CPC Sichuan Committee after being purged for a period during GCR. It was not a promotion at all.
If Mao had not been the dictator after the CCP took over China, the CCP would have had enough conscientious and competent pragmatists to avoid all the political campaigns killing tens of millions of people and driving the economy to the brink of collapse. China would have a good shot to become a developed country with the largest economy in the world by now.
Like another book of the author, this one has strong characteristics of Mainland Chinese intellectuals. They may be so strong that it may defeat the purpose of the book in some sense. This book is written in English, not a translation from a Chinese version. One would assume it targets English speaking audience. I am afraid that its Chinese language or non-standard English flavor is so strong that readers without Chinese language background may have difficulty in understand many expressions. This is the case through out the entire book. For example, "cool and real fact" instead of "cold fact", "medias" as the plural form of medium instead of media.
After all, this book provides a unique view of one of the most important events in modern Chinese history. The author's attitude toward Mao represents that of a large number (though a small portion) of Mainland Chinese. This book provides a window to their thinking.
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China's Emergent Political Economy: Capitalism in the Dragon's Lair (Routledge Studies in the Growth Economies of Asia) Review

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China's Emergent Political Economy: Capitalism in the Dragon's Lair (Routledge Studies in the Growth Economies of Asia) ReviewMcnally's "China's Emergent Political Economy" provides an excellent overview of today's China - a nation often labeled as capitalist, but dominated by its state-owned enterprises (SOEs) that produce about 60% of GDP. Central government leadership in Beijing has created a powerful support mechanism that extends to every locale - economic performance has become the principal yardstick to evaluate cadre performance, as well as one of their major revenue sources.

The first tier of China's industrial economy consists of large, central-government controlled firms, primarily in sectors with some degree of natural monopoly or market power. (China had 3 companies in Fortune's 2010 Global Top Ten, 1 in 2009, and none prior. Overall, it had 46 in the Top 500 in 2010, and 16 in 2005.) Sectors considered vital to national security are also closely controlled (aluminum, auto manufacturing, aviation transport and manufacturing, construction, banks, electric power, petrochemicals, rail, steel, telecommunications). Control of these 152 firms (end of 2007) is consolidated in the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC). Ownership of parts of these firms has been privatized, but not control. Thus, the firms can raise private capital without the government losing control, the firms becoming overly tied to market priorities and time-lines, or the state risking asset looting such as occurred in Russia. Smaller and less viable SASAC firms are usually absorbed by larger ones - the goal is 80-100 remaining in 2010. Managers of the larger entities are appointed directly by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and have ministry-level standing; the remaining managers are appointed by SASAC. These firms earned over 4% of GDP in 2007; Exxon's record 2007 profit was only 0.3% of U.S. GDP. (The Chinese corporate income tax rate became 25% in 2008.) SASAC is charged with managing these firms in the public interest; sometimes this consists of managing competition between firms - eg. China's four telecoms. (Imagine the savings if Verizon, Sprint, and drug-company advertising were limited in the U.S. China also bans political 'advertising' via dinners, gifts, arranging consumption activities, phone calls, text messages, paying visits - People's Daily, 7/30/2010.) Average SOE CEO pay is $87,000 - one-third salary, the rest bonus.
The second tier of industrial firms is made of medium-sized entities in competitive markets. Their origin may be the state sector or subsequent management buy-outs, foreign investment, or domestic start-up. Mcnally identifies this tier as the most dynamic sector, though it can be confusing since some straddle tiers 1-2 (eg. steel, autos). Examples follow -
Huawei is China's largest telecommunications and networking equipment manufacturer. Ninety-percent of its 30,000 employees hold at least a B.A. degree; engineers are paid 1/5 to 1/3 U.S. salaries. Its strategy is to provide no-frills products, aggressive service, and price 30% less than global leaders. Over 10% of revenues goes to R&D. Huawei worked with IBM consulting, Carnegie-Mellon University, and its own Indian affiliate to achieve state-of-the-art project management, product development, supply-chain management, and software development. Leading H.R. practices were also acquired via Hay & Mercer, and production-line layout and integrated solution supplier capabilities via KPMG and German firms.

Galanz (microwaves) bought technical support and an advanced production line from Toshiba in 1994 for $4 million. By 1997 it had 10% of the world market - French manufacturing business was captured with an offer to produce for 20% of existing costs. Galanz has also invested over $100 million in R&D since beginning microwave production.

Pearl River Piano was a small-time piano producer that began in 1956. In 1987 a new one-million square-foot factory was completed; when the founder's son took over in 1992 he committed to building the best and brought in ten world experts. A partnership with Yamaha led to additional production and equipment updates, and in 2001 another 500,000 square-feet was added for grand piano production. Later Pearl River also bought rights to two respected German brands. Today it has 40% of the U.S. market in upright pianos, manufactures some pianos for Steinway, produces top-of-the-line German-branded pianos, has the world's largest piano factory, and is the #1 producer in the world.

Haier (white goods) was taken over by the state in 1949 and was a failing enterprise by 1980. An assistant city manager was appointed manager in 1984, and immediately focused on improving quality. Partnering with a German firm, he returned it to profitability by 1986. In 1994 Haier entered the U.S. market, focusing on mini-bar refrigerators (also used in student dorms), and wine coolers - segments ignored by the major firms. Partnering with Sanyo, the two shared their distribution networks in China and Japan. Today it is the world's #4 white-goods producer, with a plant in South Carolina.

China's major production facilities are fairly new and well capitalized, allowing them to utilize leading equipment and methods, rather than hold on to outdated means because of large sunk costs. (This reticence to update helped sink American steel and other manufacturers.) Relative newness makes it difficult for western companies to see Chinese competitors coming. Recently some Chinese firms have decided that the best way to defend themselves from foreign competition on their home turf is to first attack those same companies overseas. This is officially backed by leadership's "Go Out" challenge, and backed by financial assistance in setting up foreign sites in western nations; China has also identified 22 companies intended to become global champions.

Tier three is the small scale sector - most are town/village enterprises (TVEs) that became privatized. Most are relatively low tech, and there is little government intervention. Some of these third-tier competitors are akin to armies of ants, with impressive collective power. For example, 700-some companies in Wanzhou control 70% of the world market for lighters - some create components, others do final assembly. Hangzhou has a network of 1,000-some tie producers, responsible for 33% of world production; 35% of the world's socks come from Zhuji, 95% of desktop computer components are produced within 50 miles of Dongguan. Industry clustering maximizes competition, encourages fast innovation, minimizes customer procurement costs, and allows achieving scale production economies at all levels, while also minimizing transportation costs. These local companies sometimes grow by following a strategy of building low-end volume in rural areas, then attacking urban centers.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) equates to about 4% ($60 billion) of China's GDP over recent years, vs. 0.5% in Japan and Korea. Foreign-invested enterprises created 58% of China's total exports in 2005, and 88% of its high-tech exports. Unfortunately for the U.S., this has led to deskilling, loss of initiative in new high-technologies such as solar and auto battery-power, massive job losses, and the loss of health care and pension benefits as well. Example: Contract manufacturer Foxconn has more employees than its customers Apple, Dell, Microsoft, H-P, Intel, and Sony, combined, per Andrew Grove. Lenin stated it well, at least ninety years ago: "The capitalists will sell us the rope with which we hang them."
Bottom-Line: "China's Emergent Political Economy" merits careful reading and consideration. China's 'capitalist' transition was almost universally welcomed when it began 31 years ago, says Mcnally. Many saw it as a windfall opening of a huge new market, others as leading inexorably to greater democracy in China. Today, many of those same western capitalists rue the unintended consequences, and the human rights advocates have been largely disappointed. The 'really bad news' for those same capitalists is that China's transition is far from complete - hundreds of millions wait in rural areas to join the global economy, and the government has committed to better developing the economies of those areas. We are now heading into 'Phase II,' this time with much more experienced government and enterprise leadership, a better-educated populace, and armed with trillions in new capital and liquid assets.
China's Emergent Political Economy: Capitalism in the Dragon's Lair (Routledge Studies in the Growth Economies of Asia) Overview

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The Precious Raft of History: The Past, the West, and the Woman Question in China Review

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The Precious Raft of History: The Past, the West, and the Woman Question in China ReviewJudge explores how Chinese women's stories were used, or revised in the photo-shops of people's minds, so that the same legends could serve utterly different visions. She focuses on the "woman question" debate at the turn of the twentieth century, when the heritage and future of women's culture seemed totally up for grabs. The legends of filial daughters, martyrs for chastity, mothers of the nation, heroes of the people, are proclaimed, reviled, or transformed to serve new dreams. Women take charge of the editing, not just of the oral folklore, but of the written record.
This book's selection of writings stresses women's suffering, and women's answers to it. It shows women reacting to Confucian orthodoxy, in a debate over social role models. There is some talk of recovering women's own traditions. But we don't hear of China's great female religious leaders, like Sun Buer, Chen Jinggu, Miaoshan, Wei Huacun, Cao Wenyi, or their versions of religion made by women, for women. We hear little or nothing of popular goddesses such as like Guanyin (Kwan Yin) or Mazu. Judge records a great many women's protests against a male-controlled establishment, but gives only an indirect taste of the women's alternative worlds.The Precious Raft of History: The Past, the West, and the Woman Question in China Overview

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Chaos and All That (Fiction from Modern China) Review

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Chaos and All That (Fiction from Modern China) ReviewThe entire novel is only 126 pages long, and there's numerous short poems and snippets of songs interspersed throughout. The story itself is filled with that brutal rawness that defines modern literature. No fainting flowers or blushing virgins on these pages. The story follows two women: one a college student and the other a character in a novel the college student is writing. Both characters describe their lives in China during the cultural revolution, and the college student adds in thoughts about her life at a university in Europe. Even though politics and the surrounding culture(s) are integral to this story, at it's core are women. Women dealing with each other, relationships, children, sex, family expectations, pets, school, government, and life in a mad and (sometimes) dangerous world.Chaos and All That (Fiction from Modern China) Overview

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Fighting Famine in North China: State, Market, and Environmental Decline, 1690s-1990s Review

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Fighting Famine in North China: State, Market, and Environmental Decline, 1690s-1990s ReviewThis is truly an amazing work. Li surveys the entire history of dealing with poverty, want, and famine in northeast China over 300 years. The region is basicalliy the environs of Beijing and Tianjin--relatively well known and well documented. Li has done an incredible job of surveying and bringing together obscure and scattered Chinese and (for the last century and a half) Western sources.
The major conclusion is not new: Yes, China had famines, lots of them, more than perhaps any other major region. The revisionist position that China was rather well off during this time is not supported, except for the 18th century. It emerges from Li's book (as from other recent work) as a relatively prosperous, peaceful time.
The Qing emperors and officials come out very well. Going into even more detail than P.-E. Will and Bin Wong in their well-known works, Li shows that Qing famine relief was extensive and fairly successful--indeed, in most of the 18th century, quite dramatically successful. Good, competent, responsible officials were common at the time. The idea of China's imperial regime as corrupt and incompetent does not stand up.
The early 20th century, previously something of a black hole in studies of Chinese food history, is extremely thoroughly covered, with the important conclusion that it was as bad as the bleak observers of that time thought--not the relatively prosperous time alleged by some recent economists.
Li is extremely objective and fair, eschewing values statements and treating controversies with caution and balance. She breaks into a strong voice only in assessing the Great Leap Forward, when Mao Zidong created the worst famine in Chinese history by incredibly wrong-headed policy.
This is not an "environmental" history, rather a history of food and food policy, but there is much about the local environment--a land dominated by extreme climatic fluctuations, leading to chronic droughts and floods, and by rivers that swing wildly over their flat silty alluvial plains unless forcibly restrained. Li takes a properly nuanced view of climate and its changes: climatic change had its effects, but was not determinative (see e.g. her attention to the late Ming dynasty, p. 37).
Thanks to Li's careful work, we learn far more about environmental realities than from most of the more explicitly "environmental" histories. For instance, Li's book is a really different order of achievement from Mark Elvin's rather disappointing RETREAT OF THE ELEPHANTS.
This book should absolutely be read in detail by anyone interested in food shortages and famines. One warning, though: if said persons are not China specialists, they will have to have a map and a good history of China constantly beside them! No concessions to non-Sinologists here! There was (I assume) simply no space.
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The Dragon Empress: The Life and Times of Tz'u-hsi, Empress Dowager of China, 1835-1908 Review

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The Dragon Empress: The Life and Times of Tz'u-hsi, Empress Dowager of China, 1835-1908 ReviewMarina Warner made her reputation with this book, a lavishly illustrated history of the Empress Dowager and the world she knew. It is wonderfully well written and succinct. Swift moving enough for a 12 year old, but the history it told was so thorough and so accurate that I was able to come back to the book ten years later, having studied the Qin and Ming in college, and marvel at how much truth she had put in so few pages.
Neither a deep work of scholarship nor a startling revision, this smooth and balanced study puts Tz'u-Hsi in context, explaining how she shaped (and failed to shape) the world around her. The lavish pictures push this book close to a coffe table work, but the whole is just the sort of thing to excite someone just getting interested in history, or in China.
I don't know what Marina Warner thinks of her early work, thirty years on. I think it a job well done.The Dragon Empress: The Life and Times of Tz'u-hsi, Empress Dowager of China, 1835-1908 Overview

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In Praise of the Maoist Economic Planning: Living Standards and Economic Development in Sichuan since 1931 (Studies on Contemporary China) Review

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In Praise of the Maoist Economic Planning: Living Standards and Economic Development in Sichuan since 1931 (Studies on Contemporary China) ReviewThis detailed economic history of modern Sichuan Province by economist Chris Bramall is a balanced, illuminating lesson about the pros and cons of industrial planning and egalitarian oriented interventions as a development strategy for deeply impoverished areas.
The title requires explanation to avoid misunderstanding, in that it sounds like a radical leftist cheerleading tract, but actually is far from it. Presumably the title was chosen as an attention grabber, highlighting the counter-conventional wisdom conclusion the empirical research supports.
Why counter-conventional wisdom? If someone argued Shanghai/Jiangsu did ok on the Mao era, few would object strenuously, but Sichuan? Sichuan was devastated far worse than any other province by the Great Leap Forward famine of 1959-61, which Bramall spends an entire chapter analyzing. (Among estimates, Bramall argues that the higher famine death numbers are the most plausible). Later, at the end of the Mao era in 1976-77, Sichuan was again facing a severe food crisis (though not massive deaths this time). These two episodes would hardly make anyone suspect that economic development happened between these two dreadful endposts, but in fact it did, quite rapidly, both in traditional measures and Amartya Sen's alternative "capabilities" view, which Bramall is sympathetic to and employs extensively. Unlike 1970s nonsense written about China, this is not due to uncritical use of official PRC stats. Intepretations can be debated, but his empirical work is solid.
The title aside, this book is not only about the Maoist period. It discusses Sichaun's experience under the ROC, and discusses how the post-famine development phase served as a good foundation for the rapid growth in the first phase of the reform period. (A theme continued in more detail in his follow-up book _Sources of Chinese Economic Growth 1978-1996_)
Bramall points out that the post-famine growth-with-equity phase was even more impressive given the amount of resources that had to be diverted because of external military threats. The "third front" was the duplication of industry in the interior in expectation of American invasion of the Chinese mainland during Vietnam. It is now known that Mao was planning to send the PLA to North Vietnam if the Americans bombed the area of NV near the Chinese border. He felt that the Americans would retalitate by invading China itself, and the extensive third front economic strategy was preparation for this eventuality.
This is purely an economic study. For a more social-political view of rural Sichuan, there are two village studies in English: Stephen Endicott's "Red Earth: Revolution in a Sichuan Village" and Gregory Ruf's "Cadres and Kin: Making a Socialist Village in West China, 1921-1991". Both would make a good companion to Bramall's technical study.
David Goodman's "China's Provincial Leaders, 1949-1985" also contains rich information about the province level politics of Sichuan.
Bramall also wrote a related journal article showing that there was no connection between the date of decollectivization (which varied from 1977-1983 in Sichuan) and rate of agricultural growth; "Origins of the Agricultural 'Miracle': Some Evidence from Sichuan" by Chris Bramall. China Quarterly Sept 1995.
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China and the Developing World: Beijing's Strategy for the Twenty-First Century Review

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China and the Developing World: Beijing's Strategy for the Twenty-First Century ReviewThe "sleeping dragon" has wakened up and is becoming a major political and economic force in regional and world affairs. Chinese diplomacy is signing investment agreements, building roads, forming strategic partnerships and gaining membership in regional and international organizations. Developing Countries are the favorite target for Beijing policy, seen both as extremely important sources of energy and raw materials, and as supporters to its multilateral approach to international affairs. China's foreign policy towards the "Third World" shifted, beginning from the early `80s, from being political-ideological to pragmatic-economic aimed. Developing countries represent for China many opportunities: sources of oil and raw materials, new markets for its products and possible allies in the United Nations and in the Taiwan's issue. This book provide a broad but still precise view of the strategies and accomplishments of China's diplomacy toward the Developing World, also mentioning the challenges that Beijing will have to face in this century and the implications for U.S.
SUMMARY OF THE BOOK
The book is divided in three sections and eight chapters. The first section and chapter is an historical introduction to China's interaction with the Developing World, from the Xia Dynasty (2206-1766 BCE) to the present. Adhering to the Confucian value system, during the Imperial era Chinese leaders focused their energies and strategies internally to secure their rule also because China was generally self-sufficient in terms of natural resources. Its self-image was one of a moral, cultural and technological superior country posed at the center of the world, as its name suggests: "the Middle Kingdom". All the foreigners were considered barbarians. The first interactions with the exterior world were obviously with the surrounding strategic periphery, mostly in the west to safeguard the Silk Road. When China was dealing with internal troubles, usually during a period of dynastic consolidation or dissolution, Chinese leaders took an essentially defensive position to hold off border threats and challenges. When stronger, they attacked the nomad barbarians and expanded the strategic periphery. In this way Chinese domain tended to expand and contract throughout history, making historic nation a geographically difficult concept to define, also because Chinese identity is based on culture rather than ethnicity. What defined a periphery state autonomous or tributary related was the military strength of the barbarians.
During the Ming period (1368-1644 CE) China began to isolate itself from the wider world outside its immediate periphery, complacent of its superiority and conditioned by antimilitaristic Confucian principles. The Empire weakened both internally and externally, particularly in terms of military power, letting the European powers and Japan conquer parts of it and compelling China to sign a series of "unequal treaties" starting from the Treaty of Nanjing after its defeat in the Opium Wars (1839-1842). This period, until the end of World War II, is considered by Chinese the "century of humiliation" that fundamentally altered China's perception of any kind of self-superiority.
With Mao's victory in the civil war and the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), China opened a new phase in its external relations based on equalitarian ideology, focusing not only with U.S. and U.S.S.R. but also with underdeveloped and developing countries, supporting their struggles for independency. At the Bandung Conference in 1955, a meeting of 29 Asian and African states, most of which were newly independent, Premier Zhou Enlai enshrined the "Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence". Mutual respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty, non-aggression, non-interference in internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence led to the creation of the "Non Aligned Movement" in which Third World nations refused to take one side in the bipolar international system headed by the U.S. and U.S.S.R.
In the 1960's China sponsored the Third World radicalism, sending arms, money, military instructors and economic aid to communist and independency insurgents in many African and South-Asian countries. Although gradually reentering the community of nations, replacing the Republic of China (ROC, in Taiwan) in the U.N. in 1971 and opening a new era in relations with the U.S. in 1972, China continued to promote anti-imperialist solidarity and economic aid based on ideology. In the late seventies, realized the economic catastrophe of the Cultural Revolution, Deng Xiaoping reformed Chinese policies to a more market-oriented economy that is still within a rigid political framework under Communist Party control. The reforms replaced collectivization of Chinese agriculture with privatization of farmlands, increased the responsibility of local authorities and industry managers, allowed a wide variety of small-scale enterprises to flourish, and promoted foreign investment. Foreign policy was now applied according to practical considerations of economic development and technology acquisition, without regard to a nation's political system or ideology. Nonetheless China continued providing military aid to Third World nations to gain capital for internal investments, buy influence, and demonstrate its continued fealty and leadership in the developing world. Pragmatism is the today priority because the Middle Kingdom is not anymore self-sufficient and has a survivor need for raw materials and energy resources owned for the most part by the developing countries.
All this long history is very important to understand the contemporary political leaders' frame of mind, reflecting a tradition of deception and a highly developed sense of political strategy to be able to gain advantage over rivals.
The second chapter examines China's post cold war strategy in Africa. Until Mao's death the main strategy toward the continent was conditioned by national security interests and the fear of a Soviet threat to China. Local fights (in Angola for example) far from the Middle Kingdom were encouraged as a diversion to keep Moscow's forces dispersed. Africa is now a component in China's larger strategy to cultivate political support, acquire energy and natural resources, secure its commercial interests and support its claims to Taiwan. Political support to China's policies is granted by $5 billion loans over three years and $5 billion China-Africa development fund that Beijing distributed in November 2006. The United Nations is the very important forum where China enjoys the support of African nations for its "one-China" policy and they can count over its veto power on censures concerning human rights violations (Sudan i.e.). China's strategy to securing raw materials and oil supplies is to gain control of African natural resources at its source to not be menaced by market prices shocks. Beijing methods to achieve African elites' benevolence are pragmatic as organizing cultural meetings, medical cooperation, tourism, bringing African students to China, agricultural and technical assistance, investment and economic support, military patronage and peacekeeping, and diplomatic support. U.S. and China have competing interests for energy and other natural resources and divergent views on democratization and human rights, but none of them wants Africa to become a region of aggressive competition.
The third chapter is dedicated to China's emergence in Central Asia. China has strategic and diplomatic interests here that play into China's overall foreign policy, such as providing a potential alternative to the Russian dominated Collective Security Treaty Organization (a collective defense institution for many Central Asian states); establishing stronger ties with its neighbors to counter in the long term a potentially hostile United States presence on its western borders. China also seeks to safeguard the stability of borders negotiated after the fall of the U.S.S.R. and has focused on preventing any external influence and support for Uyghur separatists in Xinjiang. Chinese economic and trade interests in the region, especially the development of energy resources, are also becoming increasingly important to its internal economic development. However, the U.S. and Russia still provide the largest amount of development assistance, financial aid and security assistance in the region and the gap that China is trying to fill is still pretty wide.
Chapter four present the Chinese interests in South America, focusing over relations with Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Cuba, Venezuela and control of the Panama Canal. China and Latin America have complementary economic structures. South American natural resources are vital to China's booming economy and Chinese purchases and investments will very much help economic development in the area. The Middle Kingdom looks to Latin America for supply of oil, iron ore, copper and other raw materials, along with foodstuffs such as soybeans, grain and beef meat. Chinese leaders have emphasized summit diplomacy and "win-win" relations to cultivate local support for expanding economic relations and market penetration of Chinese cheap goods. China's strategic moves and economic diplomacy will inevitably present challenges to the United States, also given that anti-Washington sentiment have increased in the region.
Chapter five explains China's interests and strategy in the Middle East and Arab countries. The main interest is obviously the stability of the region to not put in danger the extensive oil supplies. Furthermore, the M.E. and Arab world are important markets for Chinese products and services, and the Chinese government counts on the region to continue supporting the one-China policy related to Taiwan. To promote its interests, China has adopted strategies such as...Read more›China and the Developing World: Beijing's Strategy for the Twenty-First Century Overview

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Retracing Marco Polo: A Tale Of Modern Travelers Who Locate And Follow Marco Polo's Route To China And Burma Review

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Retracing Marco Polo: A Tale Of Modern Travelers Who Locate And Follow Marco Polo's Route To China And Burma ReviewRetracing Marco Polo is the travelogue of a modern family's journey to retrace Marco Polo's route to China. Comparing older texts and modern maps to plot a course, then following a winding route through Venice, Jerusalem, Turkey, and China (the trail through current-day Iran and Afghanistan was closed to them, so they went through Pakistan instead), they took in the sights, scenery, and experiences of pure adventure. Inset sections of color photograph plates illustrate this enjoyable narrative of setting out to walk in the footsteps of greatness.Retracing Marco Polo: A Tale Of Modern Travelers Who Locate And Follow Marco Polo's Route To China And Burma Overview

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The Akha: Guardians of the Forest (Beautiful & Educational Books on the Peoples of South China) Review

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The Akha: Guardians of the Forest (Beautiful & Educational Books on the Peoples of South China) ReviewWhen Jim Goodman first published Meet The Akha there were few good books giving information or insight into the lives of the Akha.
Now with The Akha: Guardians of the Forest, he has once more presented valuable photos and information to the world. Akha children removed to missions will seldom know who they are as portrayed in this book, a beautiful people who shouldn't spend a lot of time apologizing for who they are.
Let us all help preserve their culture and protect their human rights.
Matthew McDaniel
The Akha Heritage FoundationThe Akha: Guardians of the Forest (Beautiful & Educational Books on the Peoples of South China) Overview

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SAVING FACE IN CHINA: A First-Hand Guide For Any Traveller To China (Multilingual Edition) Review

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SAVING FACE IN CHINA: A First-Hand Guide For Any Traveller To China (Multilingual Edition) ReviewThis book explains and illustrates the arcane concept of "Face", something Westerners struggle with even after years of living in China. While useful and practical, "Saving Face in China" also manages to entertain and amuse. The author has a keen eye for human nature as well as a good sense of humour. It describes the pitfalls of East-West communication, without ever being patronising or disrespectful to either side. This book is highly recommended for anyone living in China or doing business with the Chinese, but would also be enjoyed by anyone with an interest in Chinese culture.SAVING FACE IN CHINA: A First-Hand Guide For Any Traveller To China (Multilingual Edition) Overview

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Collector's Encyclopedia of Knowles, Taylor & Knowles China: Identification & Values Review

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Collector's Encyclopedia of Knowles, Taylor & Knowles China: Identification & Values ReviewThis book, published in 1996, seems to be the standard for information about Knowles, Taylor, Knowles pottery. It has an extensive section on history of the pottery, includes a section on the various marks or backstamps (with photos), and covers production both in Ohio and in California.
The book has a wealth of photos of the various lines made by KTK, and includes a wonderful group of images of the famous Lotus Ware, as well as info on the well-loved whiskey jugs. An especially nice feature of this book is that the pricing information is included next to the photo of a piece, which is much more convenient than having to look things up in an index in the back. However, be aware that online auctions have changed the values of some KTK pieces somewhat, so the pricing info here may be a little high. Nonetheless, this is an excellent book for the collector's reference library.Collector's Encyclopedia of Knowles, Taylor & Knowles China: Identification & Values Overview

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Modern China: An Illustrated History Review

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Modern China: An Illustrated History ReviewRoberts did an excellent retelling China's past 200 years--and did so quite efficiently in 280 pages. Excellent for those who want to get a general overview of how China got to where it is today. Don't let all the names of people get in the way. While very straight-forward in its telling, the numerous critiques of historical situations may get in the way of the overall content. Easy to read and understand. A great survey of China's recent past that will make you want to read more about the specific aspects referred to in this book. Great for students and those who want some background before a trip to China.Modern China: An Illustrated History Overview

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Voices Carry: Behind Bars and Backstage during China's Revolution and Reform (Asian Voices) Review

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Voices Carry: Behind Bars and Backstage during China's Revolution and Reform (Asian Voices) ReviewIn giving Ying Ruocheng his own voice, Claire Conceison the "co-author" of this outstanding autobiograph does a great service not only to China but to the West, where very few people would recognize his name. This is an amazing man who was imprisoned in Beijing for three years and later forced to work growing and harvesting rice for over a year,(his crime being he and his family were intellectuals and artists). Even though he had made films such as "The Last Emperor","Little Buddha", the 1980s TV miniseries,"Marco Polo", and had taught at universities in the United States where,most likely he could have settled, he kept faith with China and worked all his life to bring China to the West. He felt this was the way China could pull itself out of the disaster Mao and the Gang of four had left behind. Ying wanted to write his own auto- biography but terrible illness left him incapable of doing so. I am so very happy Ms. Conceison got to know him on such an intimate level and gives his story in such a loving yet honor- bound way. For instance,she shares with us the fact that Ying and his wife,even as they welcomed Western visitors to their home (and I was one of them) were actually spies for the Chinese government and made reports to the government after every meeting with a Westerner. This was shocking news to me and I wanted to know more but Ying did not want to reveal any more than that and Conceison resolutely abides by his wishes,saying in her informative introduction she will leave it to others to "dig up the dirt". This is a hard book. It shows what 60 years of isolation can do to the people of a country. And it is a glorious book, showing the definition of commitment and artistry all wrapped up in this truly astounding character who it was my great pleasure and honor to know but briefly in the 1980s. Professor Conceison has written interesting and scholarly end-notes also to help the reader who is not familiar with recent Chinese history. Read it!Voices Carry: Behind Bars and Backstage during China's Revolution and Reform (Asian Voices) Overview

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Intercountry Adoption from China: Examining Cultural Heritage and Other Postadoption Issues Review

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Intercountry Adoption from China: Examining Cultural Heritage and Other Postadoption Issues ReviewThe Amazon book description gives a good overview of the topics covered, but it fails to convey the careful manner in which information is delivered in the book. The authors rely not only on their own research (the methodology and limits of which they describe), but also rely on other published studies. The authors note that the studies on adoption of Chinese children were done recently, and are few in number. The authors, however, refer to studies involving other adopted children (particularly Korean children) in an effort to predict some answers regarding older children. While the book relies heavily on research publications, it also uses adoptive parent comments to help illustrate points.
As important for me as the authors' conclusions, were the explainations of why those conclusions might not be correct. The authors readily note where the research is inconclusive, a sample is too small, where there are conflicting theories, or where a study might not be applicable to the adoption of Chinese children today. I also appreciate the authors citing their sources (typically right in the text). Thus, if you want to know more about an issue, you know exactly which study the authors relied upon. All of the cited publications, as well as a number of resources for adopting parents, are cited in the appendix.
Too much information on this subject is either missing, or is given in a chatty style that is not comprehensive. As a parent just starting the adoption process, I wish I had read this book a year ago.Intercountry Adoption from China: Examining Cultural Heritage and Other Postadoption Issues Overview

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Shanghai: High Lights, Low Lights, Tael Lights Review

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Shanghai: High Lights, Low Lights, Tael Lights Review
"High lights, low lights, tael lights" is a guide to Shanghai written in 1936. This is not your normal guide, but this is the kind of guide that give you a real uncensored view of how Shanghai was in 1930s from the perspective of two non-Chinese that live there. An rather controversial view, I bet especially in 1936 (the original publication date)
The guide is only a 100 pages, its an easy and quick read. It consists of four chapters. The first introduces Shanghai from that time. Shanghai was divided in three different districts that were governed interdependently... the Chinese, the French, and the international district. The second chapter describes the daily streetlife, the kind of shops and the kind of sounds. The third chapter dives into the Shanghai nightlife and all this things you shouldn't know about it. The last chapter called "there are also some Chinese in Shanghai" gives an rather interesting perspective of the local people from the eyes of two foreigners.
The book is very funny, especially if you know Shanghai and can actually recognize some of the districts. Some descriptions are still true, though most are descriptions of Shanghai from that time... and it has completely changed at this time. I've enjoyed reading this guide to Shanghai, laughed out loud many times, and wish I could go back in time to actually experience Shanghai from 1936. Recommended, especially when interested in Shanghai.Shanghai: High Lights, Low Lights, Tael Lights Overview

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Japanese Post Offices in China and Manchuria Review

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Japanese Post Offices in China and Manchuria Review.
It's a hardbound book, with valuable information on the Japanese post offices that operated in China and Manchuria before WWII. A brief decription of each location is provided, along with city and regional maps pinpointing the whereabouts of all but the smallest post offices. Dates of operation, including dates on which the offices were re-named or re-located are also given.
The different cancellation types known for each post office are also provided, although this information has been updated considerably in other publications since Mosher's book was published. What makes this book really useful, though, is that it provides the name of the post office in Kanji,) and the corresponding alphabetic transliterations for both the Japanese and Chinese pronounciations. It's therefore possible to identify the cancellation even if you can't read the Kanji on the cancel, although you might have to go through this book page by page.
The illustrations for the cancellations are rather sketchy and not very good. Quite a few of them are pictures of partial cancels.Japanese Post Offices in China and Manchuria Overview

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The Origins of Leftwing Cinema in China, 1932-37 (East Asia: History, Politics, Sociology and Culture) Review

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The Origins of Leftwing Cinema in China, 1932-37 (East Asia: History, Politics, Sociology and Culture) ReviewThis is the most brilliant book on early Chinese cinema. Her cultural study's approach offers rich textual and background information; at the same time, her dialectical analysis puts all her materials in prospect. It's a "must" book for people who are interested in Chinese cinema and cultural in general.The Origins of Leftwing Cinema in China, 1932-37 (East Asia: History, Politics, Sociology and Culture) Overview

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An Intellectual History of China Review

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An Intellectual History of China ReviewAlthough its English language is obtuse, which is perhaps unsurprising because it was translated from Chinese, this book is a treasure trove for the serious academics. It is truly an intellectual history of ideas, some of which were over my head. To an economist (I am one) Chapters 4 and 6 are very good. Chapter 4 deals with economic ideas during the 700-600 BC period, and Chapter 6 focuses on the economic thoughts of the Han circa 190 BC to 8 AD.
A key public finance management principle during this time period limits expenditures in accordance with income. But where do income and expenditure come from, and what is the relative importance of their sources in the economy? In an attempt to addressing this question Guan Zhong first divided the population of the country into four categories according to profession: the gentry, the peasants, craftsmen, and merchants. Then he attributed different levels of importance to these classes. For example, the gentry are the protectors of the ruling classes, but the social productivity of the country went up with the increase in the ratio of craftsmen to merchants, according to Guan Zhong's theory of settlement. In this scheme the peasantry ranked lowest. Looking back one can now understand why in China the Marxist theory of social change put peasants at its center as opposed to industrial workers as Karl Marx himself intended in the Capital.
Fan Li and Ji Ran studied business cycles. They provided no explanation that looks even closely like what is in introductory economics textbooks. However, they predicted that the expansion phase of the business cycles would have six years of good harvest, followed by another six years of bad harvest, and by a major famine twelfth year. On the basis of such prediction it made some sense then to fix the prices of agricultural products at between 30 and 80 coins per Dan on average, and to maintain that level no matter the level of harvest, because any price lower than 20 coins per Dan would be disastrous to the farmer and any price higher than 90 coins per Dan would be bad for the merchant. An essential tautology was that `the price will fall when it rises to its highest, and it will rise when it falls to its lowest' (p. 127). The conclusion that scarcity determined the price levels of goods and services is consistent with modern economics. However, price control was a misguided policy.

Ancient Chinese economists also sketched out a monetary theory relying on `correspondence of the heavy and the light' metals in minting coins. A balance of heavy and light metal in coins was deemed necessary because money was for `measuring the value of commodities and ... buying foodstuff to relieve the people' (p.128), and gold was a good measure of value for that purpose. In a way the Chinese had a fractional gold standard, so that the real wealth of the people depended on land and labor. As the ancient Economist Shan Qi put it, `the land will not produce without the people, and the people will not get rich without labor. All the products in the world come from labour and labour from manual work' (p. 129). This assertion suggests that David Ricardo's and Karl Marx's labor theories of value may have a Chinese origin. It also demonstrates that Chinese economists understood the differences between the money and the real economies.
The emphasis on the materials composition of wealth went unchallenged only until Confucius and Mencius came along. From there on morality was important to wealth creation. In other words, wealth building came to depend more on the `righteousness' of the ruling class and less on its profit motives, where righteousness has basis in moral virtues and profit in materials such as land and labor. Hence, it was easy to conclude that "the gentleman is persuaded by righteousness, while a little-minded man by profits" (p.130). In this new understanding the rulers contributed more to wealth accumulation than any other class.
The Confucian-Mencian reflex created tremendous tension such that c. 390-315 BC, Xu Xing and Mohists (Mo Zi) sought to release that tension by modifying it. The modification stressed the role in wealth building of lower-classes. [They argued that?] "when a sage governs a nation, the wealth of that nation may be doubled. ... A sage-king never increases his expenditure that does not bring benefits to the people. ... The sage-rulers cultivate farmlands together with their people and govern them while eating what they themselves produce. ... The Prince of Teng is indeed a worthy prince. Nevertheless, he had not yet heard the true Way. ... Now the Prince of Teng has his granaries, treasuries and arsenals, which are nothing but oppressing the people to nourish himself. How can he be deemed worthy? ... [As] Shi Zi once said, `The Faery Farmer cultivated the farmland and had his daily meals in common with his people in order to persuade them to work in the farm" (pp. 132-133).
Xu Xing also thought that "there should be no two different prices in the market." He favored direct exchanges of goods and services produced by the different social divisions of labor. The following is his clarification of his thought: "Linen and silk of the same length would be the same price. So would it be with the prices of hemp and silk, these being the same in quantity; with the five kinds of grains, these being the same in amount; and with shoes that were of the same size." Obviously this pricing idea is totally ignorant of the factors that determined, which made it easy for Mencius at the time to charge that `that if the way of Xu Xing is to be followed, falsities will ensure one after another; then how could the nation be well governed?'"(p.134). There is no doubt that Xing's ideas were pro-peasant and challenged Mencius's notions that "those who labour with their brains govern others; those who labour with their brawn are governed by others. Those governed by others, feed them. Those who govern others, are fed by them." Xing clearly thought that Mencius's division of labour was a poor apology for "for the rationality and eternity of the feudal exploitation system" (p. 134). In all it is fascinating to see that Chinese ancient economists stumbled upon the "law of one price", they just had a different and incorrect interpretation of it.
Chapter 6 describes Chinese economist thoughts during the 190 - 8 AD (Han) period. Early during this period the thoughts of Jia Yi and Chao Cuo dominated and these sought to relax present-day class antagonisms prevalent up until then. However, the overemphasis of agriculture over commerce, especially Chao's notion that `in grain consist[s] the cardinal function of the sovereign and the essential concern of the policy,' signaled that the pendulum swung too far and helped to concentrate imperial power. According to the editors of An Intellectual History of China, Jia Yi and Chao Cuo also "advocated that dignitary ranks might be bought with grain and guilts ransomed with grain, [which] would contribute to absorbing the surplus money in circulation and diverting it from buying too much farmlands, while the guilty when exempted might keep their status of free citizen, leading to the amelioration of class contradictions. In short, it did promote social productivity and strengthen the unifying imperial power; but at the same time it also opened the way for foul practices such as buying and selling official posts and of protecting the feudal privileges." (p. 185). The new policies also urged saving and accumulation of surplus for provisions and wealth creation, because a well-fed nation is an `invincible', `invulnerable', and `triumphant' nation. To help accomplish all this there must be one central authority to create money and standardize money for it to function as legal tender. Again, we see the modern functions of money and the role of central banking may have originated in China.
Economist Sang Hong Yang attempted to re-emphasize the roles of craftsmen and commerce in the economy instead of `upholding agriculture and repressing commerce' as Guan Zi did. He argued that `when possessed with large fertile lands, the people are still poorly fed, it is because they are not furnished with proper instruments. When with the rich products from the land and the sea, the people are still poorly nourished, it is because they are not sufficiently provided with crafts and commerce. ... There are always more than one way to make a nation wealthy' (p. 186). And based on this understanding Yang recommended that the imperial government should prohibit private ownership, and promote government monopoly, of the production and distribution of certain commodities chief among them salt, iron, and brewery, so that `the profit that iron and salt have brought in is enough to meet all requirements of the government, to afford the military expenses and to provide the resources in times of need; they support the government in many ways. ... The monopoly of iron and salt is not only for the benefits of the government's income, but also for the consolidation of the root [...] and the restraint on the tip [...], the liquidization of political factions and the prevention of both the luxury and the annexation of lands ' (p. 186). Although the text does not provide any justification for government monopoly of brewery, it is clear was for raising tax revenue from it, given its low own price elasticity of demand. Clearly "sin taxes' are not a new policy.
Sang theorized that "the wealth of big cities ... was accumulated by the `managing ability' ... of `the wise' ... multiplied through the process of circulation of commodities. Hence, ... `wealth exists in the managing ability rather than in manual laborer'" (p. 186). This assertion recognizes the important roles of trade, commerce, and human capital in wealth...Read more›An Intellectual History of China Overview

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