Tiger Head, Snake Tails: China Today, How It Got There and Where It Is Heading

by Jonathan Fenby

Overview

The imminent collapse of the People's Republic of China has been foretold for years. Just as often, though, it has been predicted to be future ruler of the world.The imminent collapse of the People's Republic of China has been foretold for years. Just as often, though, it has been predicted to be future ruler of the world.
But despite the endless stream of soothsayers, there has been no single book that pulls together the whole of the China story, linking its very disparate elements to present a coherent portrait that explains what China is and why it matters so much.
In this compelling and lucid account based on years of research and first-hand experience, rooted in on-the-ground reporting, interviews, observations, analysis of data and a viewpoint that sees the country from the inside out, Jonathan Fenby links the myriad features of today's rapidly evolving China. "Fast-moving, informed, and illuminating" (The Guardian), Tiger Head, Snake Tails brilliantly demonstrates that the binary approach so often applied to China -- the country is either good or bad, set to reach the stars or collapse in chaos -- often boils down to the prejudices of its authors. By seeing China as a whole -- especially its history and involvement with the West -- and connecting the dots, Jonathan Fenby intelligently looks into its future, both internally and in its impact on the rest of the world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781468303414
Publisher:	The Overlook Press
Publication date:	10/25/2012
Pages:	432
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.50(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Jonathan Fenby is the author of such books as the acclaimed Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-Shek and the China He Lost and Modern China. Previously he was the editor of both the Observer and the South China Morning Post.

Table of Contents

Preface xi

Key Economic Charts and Currency Rates xiii

1 Never Before 1

2 A Nation on Speed 19

3 Riding the Rail 36

4 Mega-China 47

5 The Motley Nation 72

6 The Giant Hotpot 85

7 On the Edge 112

8 Power Control 133

9 How China Grew 164

10 Owning History 195

11 Shadows of the Past 209

12 The World and China 234

13 China and the World 260

14 The Last Frontier 277

15 Lack of Trust 293

16 Cracks in the Mirror 321

17 The Price of Success 347

18 The Unfinished Revolution 370

Notes 388

Acknowledgements 400

Select Bibliography 402

Index 406

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"A one stop guide to political and economic realities in China today." —The Guardian

"[A] one-stop overview of China's politics, economics, society, international relations, history, environmental issues, corruption, and new leadership." —The Wall Street Journal, Scene Asia

"Any businessman heading for China will find the book a great briefing." —Sunday Times

"[A] keen observer and entertaining tour guide, and though he refuses to draw any concrete or controversial conclusions, lay readers will benefit from browsing this richly detailed account of the country’s industrial policy and economy."—Publishers Weekly

Editorial Reviews

Much has been written, from diverse perspectives, about the meteoric rise of China’s economy over the past decade and how the 21st century belongs to China; that the world’s most populous country will inexorably become the dominant global superpower while the United States will struggle to play catchup. More recently, with news of a dramatic slowdown in Chinese construction sharing headline space with revelations of political scandals and infighting, it has become fashionable to predict the imminent bursting of the China bubble. Fenby (Generalissimo), a historian and journalist with decades of experience in the Far East, offers a more nuanced view in his seventh book on China. He attempts to elucidate the problems facing the country that a plurality of Americans name as the globe’s foremost economic power, along with the strategies that Beijing’s political and business leaders are relying on to overcome them. Fenby falls prey to the mania for statistics and quantitative data that permeates much recent business literature, reeling out page upon page of figures presented with precious little context. However, he is a keen observer and entertaining tour guide, and though he refuses to draw any concrete or controversial conclusions, lay readers will benefit from browsing this richly detailed account of the country’s industrial policy and economy. 27 b&w illus. Agent: Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

"A one stop guide to political and economic realities in China today." —The Guardian

"[A] one-stop overview of China's politics, economics, society, international relations, history, environmental issues, corruption, and new leadership." —The Wall Street Journal, Scene Asia

"Any businessman heading for China will find the book a great briefing." —Sunday Times

"[A] keen observer and entertaining tour guide, and though he refuses to draw any concrete or controversial conclusions, lay readers will benefit from browsing this richly detailed account of the country’s industrial policy and economy."—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

Former editor of the Observer and the South China Morning Post, Fenby (The General: Charles De Gaulle and the France He Saved, 2012, etc.) offers extensive analyses of today's China and where the future may take it. China, writes the author, is "a nation on speed," having become the world's largest manufacturer and exporter in just a few short decades. This remarkable growth has, of course, been a boon to China, but it also masks the many contradictions that may question the notion that China "can simply succeed if it wants to." Fenby leaves very little out of his examination of China, exploring everything from regional development to the plight of migrant workers, from leadership struggles to the restless demands of an increasingly diverse society, from foreign policy to the role of the military. The author looks closely at the recent growth of manufacturing in China's heretofore-stagnant hinterland, as well as at the cradle of China's economic growth along its coastal urban centers. He explores the role of the government and the Chinese Communist Party in setting and implementing economic policy, especially the Party's "control ethos," in which "dissidence is equivalent to treason." Fenby finds this to be China's central problem: Without a liberalization of politics and the legal system able to address the problems of corruption, environmental devastation and inequality, China has no choice but to continue headlong into growth, exacerbating such contradictions. The author writes gracefully, but he may be taking on too much here with long exegeses on ancient and modern history, detailed biographies of leaders past and present, and in-depth accounts of Taiwan and Hong Kong--all of interest, but a bit overwhelming. Ambitious, demanding (for readers) look at China and all its complexities.

Kirkus Reviews