A China Moment

'A China Moment' is Clare Bagshaw's informed and insightful account of the rewards and challenges of living, working and travelling across the breadth of China and beyond. Clare battles through cultural barriers and social nuances to gain an understanding of the dynamics and history of China and Her people. The relationships Clare builds with local Chinese and western compatriots offer a unique insight into the contradictory societies living side by side. Tales of Clare's travels, for both work and enjoyment, are accompanied by the rewards and frustrations of daily life in China, providing an amusing and heartfelt tale.

China is hot. The world sees a glorious future for this sleeping giant, three times larger than the United States, predicting it will blossom into the world's biggest economy by 2010. According to Chang, however, a Chinese-American lawyer and China specialist, the People's Republic is a paper dragon. Peer beneath the veneer of modernization since Mao's death, and the symptoms of decay are everywhere: Deflation grips the economy, state-owned enterprises are failing, banks are hopelessly insolvent, foreign investment continues to decline, and Communist party corruption eats away at the fabric of society. Beijing's cautious reforms have left the country stuck midway between communism and capitalism, Chang writes. With its impending World Trade Organization membership, for the first time China will be forced to open itself to foreign competition, which will shake the country to its foundations. Economic failure will be followed by government collapse. Covering subjects from party politics to the Falun Gong to the government's insupportable position on Taiwan, Chang presents a thorough and very chilling overview of China's present and not-so-distant future.

China today is never out of the news: from human rights controversies and the continued legacy of Tiananmen Square, to global coverage of the Beijing Olympics, and the Chinese 'economic miracle'. It seems a country of contradictions: a peasant society with some of the world's most futuristic cities, heir to an ancient civilization that is still trying to find a modern identity. This Very Short Introduction offers the reader with no previous knowledge of China a variety of ways to understand the world's most populous nation, giving a short, integrated picture of modern Chinese society, culture, economy, politics and art. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Ch. 1. The context: Governing Chin. China's 17th Party Congress: Getting serious. China's Tiananmen moment: The party rules. China's shadow sector: Power in pieces. China: Inside strain, outside spleen. Chinese democracy: The neglected story. China, the party-state's test -- ch. 2. Society in carnival China: The beautiful, the damned and the Olympics. Shanghai: Formula One's last ride. Beijing's political tightrope walk. China's Olympics: After the storm. China on Olympic eve: A globalisation of sentiment. The Olympics countdown: Beijing to Shanghai. China changes itself: An Olympics report. China's nervous transition. Gan Lulu and China: The human touch -- ch. 3. China and the outside world. Chimerica: Obama visits Beijing. North Korea's fate, Chimerica's test with Jiyoung Song. China and America: The uses of vulnerability. China and Tony Blair: The wealth circuit. China and the Egyptian uprising with Cassidy Hazelbaker. China's elite: A language deficit. China and Syria: A question of responsibility with Cassidy Hazelbaker. China and Japan: A conflict of logics -- ch. 4. The road to 2012: The leadership transition. China's next elite: 2012 and beyond with Loh Su-Hsing. China's great transition: The next party congress. The three rules of Chinese politics. China's party, Bo Xilai's legacy with David Goodman. Chongqing and Bo Xilai: How China works. Bo Xilai's fall: Echo and portent -- ch. 5. The enemies within: Separatists, dissidents, and the protestors. Xinjiang: China's security high alert. Gao Zhisheng and China's question. China and Liu Xiaobo: The weakness of strength. Liu Xiaobo and China's future. Hada, Liu Xiaobo and China's fear with Natalia Lisenkova. Inner Mongolia: China's turbulent secret -- ch. 6. Following the money: The Chinese economy. China goes global. China in 2009: A year for surprise. China's giant struggle. China local, China global -- ch. 7. After Hu Jintao. Chimes at midnight: Corruption and the future of the Communist Party. On networks and the new leadership. Time to accept difference

A provocative and urgent analysis of the U.S.–China rivalry. It has become conventional wisdom that America and China are running a “superpower marathon” that may last a century. Yet Hal Brands and Michael Beckley pose a counterintuitive question: What if the sharpest phase of that competition is more like a decade-long sprint? The Sino-American contest is driven by clashing geopolitical interests and a stark ideological dispute over whether authoritarianism or democracy will dominate the 21st century. But both history and China’s current trajectory suggest that this rivalry will reach its moment of maximum danger in the 2020s. China is at a perilous moment: strong enough to violently challenge the existing order, yet losing confidence that time is on its side. Numerous examples from antiquity to the present show that rising powers become most aggressive when their fortunes fade, their difficulties multiply, and they realize they must achieve their ambitions now or miss the chance to do so forever. China has already started down this path. Witness its aggression toward Taiwan, its record-breaking military buildup, and its efforts to dominate the critical technologies that will shape the world’s future. Over the long run, the Chinese challenge will most likely prove more manageable than many pessimists currently believe—but during the 2020s, the pace of Sino-American conflict will accelerate, and the prospect of war will be frighteningly real. America, Brands and Beckley argue, will still need a sustainable approach to winning a protracted global competition. But first, it needs a near-term strategy for navigating the danger zone ahead.