China's Future Paperback – 25 Mar. 2016

If you are interested to know the western bias on China, I think this book is a very good choice. As a Chinese student in UK, I am very shocked that until today, the western scholar still uses such western centric ideas to think about China's future. This can also explained many western scholars' miscalculation of China and China's development in past decades. Even though that David tries hard to stand on a 'neutral' position, he fails to do this. The biggest assumption of this book is that freedom and democratic reform are the pre-assumption of successful and sustainable economic development, which have been proved by western countries but also failed to be shown in Latin American and Africa (most developing countries). Actually David, also many other western scholars, fail to consider many other factors, such as nationalism, cultural traditions and tribalism, which are may more important to maintain stability in China than as he indicated 'openness or freedom'. I do not mean that China is perfect but in the opposite, I agree the China today is facing serious problems and many problems mentioned by David are correct. However, the biggest problem of this book is that it assume that having democracy will solve everything that is NOT convincing at all and without thinking about the various reasons of these economic and social problems in China but instead simply linking them to China's political system that precisely shows western centric of it. I think that before figuring out the future of China, it is important to know China's history, culture and real society but it does not shown in this book, which may because of its limited words. But through this book, I understand one thing that why American's improving democracy in Middle East and North Africa are creating mass because they prefer to use its own ideology to understand or analyze others without really understanding them, which is not just about arrogance but is the biggest barrier to find trues.

My husband thought this was very good - 4.5 out of 5. An enlightening read, apparently.

Great Product and Great service

Both China and the West are heading into a very interesting time, with much change for both on the horizon. This very interesting book gives a lot of food for thought about the possible directions and issues that may be in China's future. The author investigates China's burgeoning and evolving economy, the massive social changes, the still very conservative politics and, finally, China's relationships and interconnection with the rest of the world. And, at the end, there are 23 pages of notes and references. As a student of Chinese Studies I have found it a very useful addition to my course book list.

This is not a light read for the layman. This is a new text from Shambaugh, reflecting on the potential for China both domestically and abroad, after a few years of upheaval and policy change. The main focus is on the political direction for China and this is a complex subject matter, especially given the country's history.I found this title hard to read - not in terms of content, but in terms of flow. The complex subject matter was handled well and I suppose it's hard to make it 'fluffy' for casual readers, though I found the depth and knowledge of the author carried through, throughout. An interesting, if challenging, read.

I found this book on China's future by David Shambaugh a relatively approachable read. The book centres around the exploration of 4 potential options that the author sees for China's political future: Neo-totalitarianism, Hard Authoritarianism, Soft Authoritarianism and Semi-Democracy; and how these options will affect the development of the Chinese economy, society as well as the global impact of each path.This is not the first book on this topic and will not be the last, however I did like the authors approach to addressing this complex issue. It's less of a prediction ("no one has a crystal ball") and more of a discussion of these various options and their likely impact that is thought provoking. I would recommend this book for those anyone who reads about China regularly in the newspaper, and is looking improve their everyday understanding and be better informed on this topic.

I really enjoyed this. The author's thesis is that China is currently at an inflection point, where it can turn in a number of different directions - Neo-Totalitarianism, Hard Authoritarianism, Soft Authoritarianism or Semi-Democracy. The author has a preference - which I won't ruin for you - but most importantly I felt I really learnt something about China's large scale political and economic structure that I didn't know before. It gave me a strong insight into how each of these approaches could affect not just China's development, but also that of the entire world. At 200 pages or so it's also a fairly quick read. Would recommend to anyone interested in geopolitics, or the future of China's global role.

If you're looking for a topical assessment of China's economic influence on the world then this relatively slim book is an excellent starting point. David Shambaugh clearly knows his subject and writes in a lucid and stimulating way. It doesn't take that long to read but there is some very insightful observations which makes it a must read on China.