The China Questions: Critical Insights into a Rising Power

by Jennifer Rudolph (Editor), Michael Szonyi (Editor)

Overview

“Cuts through the cacophony of information, misinformation, and nonsense on China that circulates in our modern world to give us reliable answers to crucial questions… Should be on the shelf of anyone seeking to understand this fast-rising superpower.”
—Ian Johnson, author of The Souls of China

After years of isolation, China is now center stage as an economic and global power, but its rise has triggered wildly divergent views. Is it a model of business efficiency or a threat to American prosperity and security? Thirty-six of the world’s leading China experts from Harvard University’s renowned Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies answer key questions about this new superpower, distilling a lifetime of scholarship into short and accessible essays about Chinese politics, culture, history, economy, approach to the environment, and foreign policy. Their contributions provide essential insight into the challenges China faces, the aspirations of its people and leaders, its business climate, and the consequences of its meteoric ascent. Many books offer information about China, but few make sense of what is truly at stake.

“Impressive… A highly informative, readable collection for scholars and nonscholars alike.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Provides a more nuanced and accessible perspective on the issues China is facing.”
—South China Morning Post

“Erudite yet accessible… The topical reach is impressive.”
—Jeffrey Wasserstrom, author of China in the 21st Century

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674237520
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	04/08/2019
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	1,048,577
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Jennifer Rudolph is author of Negotiated Power in Late Imperial China: The Zongli Yamen and the Politics of Reform and coeditor of The China Questions: Critical Insights into a Rising Power. She is Professor of Asian History and International/Global Studies at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Michael Szonyi is author of The Art of Being Governed: Everyday Politics in Late Imperial China and Cold War Island: Quemoy on the Front Line and coeditor of The China Questions: Critical Insights into a Rising Power. He is Frank Wen-hsiung Wu Professor of Chinese History and Director of The Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University.

Table of Contents

Introduction Michael Szonyi 1

I Politics

1 Is the Chinese Communist Regime Legitimate? Elizabeth J. Perky 11

2 Can Fighting Corruption Save the Party? Joseph Fewsmih 18

3 Does Mao Still Matter? Roderick MacFarquhar 26

4 What Is the Source of Ethnic Tension in China? Mark Elliott 33

5 What Should We Know about Public Opinion in China? Ya-Wen Lei 43

6 What Does Longevity Mean for Leadership in China? Arunabh Ghosh 51

7 Can the Chinese Communist Party Learn from Chinese Emperors? Yuhua Wang 58

II International Relations

8 Will China head Asia? Odd Arne Westad 67

9 How Strong Are China's Armed Forces? Andrew S. Erickson 73

10 What Does the Rise of China Mean for the United States? Robert S. Ross 81

11 Is Chinese Exceptionalism Undermining China's Foreign Policy Interests? Alastair Iain Johnston 90

12 (When) Will Taiwan Reunify with the Mainland? Steven M. Goldstein 99

13 Can China and Japan Ever Get Along? Ezra F. Vogel 110

III Economy

14 Can China's High Growth Continue? Richard N. Cooper 119

15 Is the Chinese Economy Headed toward a Hard Landing? Dwight H. Perkins 126

16 Will Urbanization Save the Chinese Economy or Destroy It? Meg Rithmire 133

17 Is China Keeping Its Promises on Trade? Mark Wu 141

18 How Do China's New Rich Give Back? Tony Saich 148

19 What Can China Teach Us about Fighting Poverty? Nara Dillon 155

IV Environment

20 Can China Address Air Pollution and Climate Change? Michael B. McElroy 165

21 Is There Environmental Awareness in China? Karen Thornber 173

V Society

22 Why Does the End of the One-Child Policy Matter? Susan Greenhalgh 183

23 How Are China and Its Middle Class Handling Aging and Mental Health? Arthur Kleinman 191

24 How Important Is Religion in China? James Robson 199

25 Will There Be Another Dalai Lama? Leonard W. J. Van Der Kuijp 206

26 Does Law Matter in China? William P. Alford 212

27 Why Do So Many Chinese Students Come to the United States? William C. Kirby 219

VI History and Culture

28 Who Is Confucius in Today's China? Michael Puett 231

29 Where Did the Silk Road Come From? Rowan Flad 237

30 Why Do Intellectuals Matter to Chinese Politics? Peter K. Bol 244

31 Why Do Classic Chinese Novels Matter? Wai-Yee Li 252

32 How Have Chinese Writers Imagined China's Future? David Der-Wei Wang 261

33 Has Chinese Propaganda Won Hearts and Minds? Jie Li 268

34 Why Is It Still So Hard to Talk about the Cultural Revolution? Xiaofei Tian 276

35 What Is the Future of China's Past? Stephen Owen 283

36 How Has the Study of China Changed in the Last Sixty Years? Paul A. Cohen 288

Further Reading 297

Acknowledgments 309

Contributors 311

Index 325

Editorial Reviews

This book cuts through the cacophony of information, misinformation, and nonsense on China that circulates in our modern world to give us reliable answers to crucial questions about one of the world’s most important nations. Written by a who’s-who of experts on a variety of topics, it’s also a pleasure to read. With stylish essays on everything from elite politics to the classical Chinese novel, it should be on the shelf of anyone seeking to understand this fast-rising superpower.

Ian Johnson

The China Questions is packed with erudite yet accessible commentaries on issues ranging from literature to ethnic diversity. The topical reach is impressive; readers will come away with information concerning novel ways of thinking about everything from early philosophical traditions to modern visions of utopia and dystopia, from international relations to struggles for political legitimacy.

Jeffrey Wasserstrom

Sound bites about China, spoken by either the media or politicians, can fall into the trap of oversimplification. This can result in assumptions that, like the tip of an iceberg, do not reveal the myriad complexities below the surface… [The China Questions] provides a more nuanced and accessible perspective of the issues China is facing, ranging from political and economic to cultural and societal.

South China Morning Post - Bernice Chan

Sound bites about China, spoken by either the media or politicians, can fall into the trap of oversimplification. This can result in assumptions that, like the tip of an iceberg, do not reveal the myriad complexities below the surface... [The China Questions] provides a more nuanced and accessible perspective of the issues China is facing, ranging from political and economic to cultural and societal.--Bernice Chan "South China Morning Post" (6/3/2018 12:00:00 AM)

This collection is impressive for its comprehensiveness, with contributors providing numerous pointed observations...This is a highly informative, readable collection for scholars and nonscholars alike.-- "Publishers Weekly" (10/9/2017 12:00:00 AM)

The China Questions is packed with erudite yet accessible commentaries on issues ranging from literature to ethnic diversity. The topical reach is impressive; readers will come away with information concerning novel ways of thinking about everything from early philosophical traditions to modern visions of utopia and dystopia, from international relations to struggles for political legitimacy.--Jeffrey Wasserstrom, author of China in the 21st Century

This book cuts through the cacophony of information, misinformation, and nonsense on China that circulates in our modern world to give us reliable answers to crucial questions about one of the world's most important nations. Written by a who's-who of experts on a variety of topics, it's also a pleasure to read. With stylish essays on everything from elite politics to the classical Chinese novel, it should be on the shelf of anyone seeking to understand this fast-rising superpower.--Ian Johnson, author of The Souls of China

From the Publisher

10/09/2017
Rudolph and Szonyi, both associated with Harvard’s Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, bring together 36 short, but collectively weighty, scholarly articles on contemporary China. The articles are grouped into six categories: China’s politics, foreign relations, economy, environment, society, and history and culture. This collection is impressive for its comprehensiveness, with contributors providing numerous pointed observations. In a piece on the U.S.’s response to the flexing of Chinese military power, for example, Robert Ross, a political scientist at Boston College, charges Washington with simultaneously failing to improve ties with allies in the region and to “manage Chinese perceptions of U.S. intentions.” The editors have done an excellent job of pruning jargon and creating succinct essays on complex topics, though in some cases an article’s brevity is a shortcoming: in writing about religion in China, for example, James Robson, a professor of East Asian languages and civilizations at Harvard, takes a largely top-down approach, focusing on the state’s changing attitude toward religion while saying very little on religious practices themselves. Still, this is a highly informative, readable collection for scholars and nonscholars alike. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly