Understanding China: A Guide to China's Culture, Economy, and Political Structure

Without question, the 21st century will include an increase China's global importance--a situation that is sometimes ground for optimism, sometimes fear. Despite the recent growth of interest in the region, China's political and economic nuances remain widely misunderstood. Those seeking to grasp the complexities of modern-day China will find much to admire in Understanding China, a remarkably concise, fact-filled, and fair-minded survey by Yale professor John Bryan Starr. Written for a general audience, Understanding China fills in historical context while evaluating the major issues facing the People's Republic today, from environmental degradation to exploding population growth. Bryan's conclusion: China's problems are too intractable to support the current political system for much longer. And despite the free-market accommodations of the Deng era, it's not democracy he envisions as China's most likely fate, but rather a political future controlled largely by the People's Liberation Army. It's a grim forecast, but one ably supported by the book's data and statistics.