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China's World View: Demystifying China to Prevent Global Conflict
A distinguished Chinese economist offers a timely, essential exploration of China’s perspective on economy, government, society, and its position in the world. Dr. David Daokui Li has served as an advisor to senior Chinese Communist Party leaders as well as major multinational corporations and international economic institutions. Writing in response to the growing anti-Chinese sentiment and alarmed by the threat of war, Dr. Li pulls from his wealth of firsthand experience to demystify contemporary Chinese society and advocate for understanding between China and the West. In this urgently needed and fascinating book, he explains the inner workings of a rising superpower to help the world understand how it works―and how to work with it. In Li’s hands, an economic and political system that often baffles Westerners becomes coherent, sophisticated, and logical. He begins by explaining how two thousand years of history―from Confucian philosophy and ancient imperial dynasties to Communist Party chairmen from Mao to Deng Xiaoping―profoundly influence China’s leadership today. Li brings the reader into high-level meetings he attended with figures including Xi Jinping, showing China’s approach to governance. Many Westerners imagine that China’s economy and society are as rigid and ideological as Soviet Russia. In his far-reaching exploration of the Chinese economy―from state-owned enterprises, private businesses, the stock market, education, media and the internet to real estate, the environment, and much more―Li reveals that China’s economy and society are in fact diverse, dynamic, and flexible. In demystifying contemporary Chinese society, Li helps readers reconceptualize contemporary China and the implications of its growth. He asserts that China’s rise will be beneficial for the global order, holding out the hope that with shared understanding and mutual learning the Chinese and Western systems will eventually find a way to peacefully coexist.
288 pages, Hardcover
Published January 9, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
January 7, 2024
China's World View: Demystifying China to Prevent Global Conflict is the first book written by David Daokui Li, a Chinese economist and professor. As stated in the title, he wrote this book in order to educate westerners about China's government, economy, and culture in order to challenge misunderstandings that he fears could lead to war. Originally started in the early 2010s, he worked on this book for many years and as relationships between China and the West became more strained.
While this definitely has a slant - it is written for a specific purpose and aims to argue that China's success is good for the world - it was a very well-written, concise, helpful account of some basics of China's functioning and perspectives. As someone who doesn't know very much about the systems of governance in China, I found this book to be fascinating and educational.
Thank you so much to David Daokui Li and W. W. Norton & Company for this ARC through NetGalley. China's World View: Demystifying China to Prevent Global Conflict will be available for purchase January 9th. I definitely recommend it for those interested in geopolitics and macro economics, especially readers in Western Europe or the United States.
While this definitely has a slant - it is written for a specific purpose and aims to argue that China's success is good for the world - it was a very well-written, concise, helpful account of some basics of China's functioning and perspectives. As someone who doesn't know very much about the systems of governance in China, I found this book to be fascinating and educational.
Thank you so much to David Daokui Li and W. W. Norton & Company for this ARC through NetGalley. China's World View: Demystifying China to Prevent Global Conflict will be available for purchase January 9th. I definitely recommend it for those interested in geopolitics and macro economics, especially readers in Western Europe or the United States.
January 24, 2024
Very good. It features an array of high-level discussions on a really wide range of topics about China specifically and even international relations/globalization/macroeconomics more broadly. It’s written in an introductory-level way that makes each of the chapters feel approachable but not dumbed-down. It’s definitely a book intended to be more “breadth” than “depth”, but that’s fine with me and it certainly achieves this aim.
-1 star for occasionally feeling a little to propaganda-y. It feels like this was scrubbed by a censor who wanted to make it read like it wasn’t scrubbed by a censor, and that makes such scrubbing seem even more obvious to me. That being said however, I’ll admit that there are probably some latent Western biases present in my reading of this book, so take this -1 with a grain of salt I guess.
-1 star for occasionally feeling a little to propaganda-y. It feels like this was scrubbed by a censor who wanted to make it read like it wasn’t scrubbed by a censor, and that makes such scrubbing seem even more obvious to me. That being said however, I’ll admit that there are probably some latent Western biases present in my reading of this book, so take this -1 with a grain of salt I guess.
March 12, 2024
It’s not China’s world view. It’s his. Trust me, don’t waste your time on this nonsense book.
February 18, 2024
Professor Li is an economist from Tsinghua University and dean of the Schwarzman program. Due to his large following on social media he is a familiar name to many educated Chinese. His book is a sincere attempt to improve relations between China and the West—a laudable task given the current political climate.
Li’s descriptions and explanations of Chinese politics and society will be interesting for readers that are not familiar with the “Chinese perspective”. Even the accomplished Sinologist will benefit from the clarity of his arguments and the occasional anecdote about high level meetings with ministers and sometimes the Premier.
The central thesis of the book is that China’s rise will be beneficial for the world, whereas a cold or hot war will be detrimental for all parties involved. Li outlines three benefits of China's rise to the global community. First, continued growth in China will open new economic opportunities and create jobs in the West. Second, China’s technological innovativeness will generate global public goods particularly in the fight against climate change and the exploration of space. Third, competition from China is beneficial for the West because it forces Western companies and states to be more innovative and constantly improve themselves.
While certainly debatable, Li’s arguments are clear and refreshing. Having said that, the book does indeed have a number of problems, which I’m afraid will lead many readers in the West to dismiss it as mere propaganda.
Although the book is generally very reflected, it sometimes has a defensive undertone and generally avoids any outright critique against the Party. A good example is chapter two about the importance of “history” in Chinese society. The author completely ignores attempts by the Party to mold the Chinese conception of “history” according to its wishes, such as the Four Cardinal Principles.
On other occasions, I found his arguments a little naive, for example his claim that internet censorship in China will gradually be rolled back as the Party becomes more secure in its power. Li’s claim that “history” acts like a check on the power of Chinese leaders because they are overly worried about their legacy, also falls into this category.
Finally, the author tends to essentialize a particular form of Chinese culture. For example, arguments like “respect is more important for Chinese diplomacy than material gains”, are based on a core of truth but are exaggerated in the cultural absolutism in which they are presented.
All in all, although I disagreed with the arguments in the book on many occasions, I found it enjoyable to read and a worthwhile attempt to mediate between the Chinese and Western perspective in the heated political environment today.
Li’s descriptions and explanations of Chinese politics and society will be interesting for readers that are not familiar with the “Chinese perspective”. Even the accomplished Sinologist will benefit from the clarity of his arguments and the occasional anecdote about high level meetings with ministers and sometimes the Premier.
The central thesis of the book is that China’s rise will be beneficial for the world, whereas a cold or hot war will be detrimental for all parties involved. Li outlines three benefits of China's rise to the global community. First, continued growth in China will open new economic opportunities and create jobs in the West. Second, China’s technological innovativeness will generate global public goods particularly in the fight against climate change and the exploration of space. Third, competition from China is beneficial for the West because it forces Western companies and states to be more innovative and constantly improve themselves.
While certainly debatable, Li’s arguments are clear and refreshing. Having said that, the book does indeed have a number of problems, which I’m afraid will lead many readers in the West to dismiss it as mere propaganda.
Although the book is generally very reflected, it sometimes has a defensive undertone and generally avoids any outright critique against the Party. A good example is chapter two about the importance of “history” in Chinese society. The author completely ignores attempts by the Party to mold the Chinese conception of “history” according to its wishes, such as the Four Cardinal Principles.
On other occasions, I found his arguments a little naive, for example his claim that internet censorship in China will gradually be rolled back as the Party becomes more secure in its power. Li’s claim that “history” acts like a check on the power of Chinese leaders because they are overly worried about their legacy, also falls into this category.
Finally, the author tends to essentialize a particular form of Chinese culture. For example, arguments like “respect is more important for Chinese diplomacy than material gains”, are based on a core of truth but are exaggerated in the cultural absolutism in which they are presented.
All in all, although I disagreed with the arguments in the book on many occasions, I found it enjoyable to read and a worthwhile attempt to mediate between the Chinese and Western perspective in the heated political environment today.
March 11, 2024
Mass surveillance: Mao’s ultimate dream of total control is here. 'Thought crime' like in 1984: it is a real thing in China. The author justifies this extreme behavior of the state as a convenient means to get rid of petty crime or to fine capricious motorcycle-drivers like himself. How incredibly naive.
No mention of the numerous political re-education centra (visible on any satellite map) which are basically concentration camps to provide free labor for multinationals. You can end up there before you know it. No trial needed. In China you can suddenly just stop existing.
No mention of Tibet.
No mention of the fate of the Uyghurs who are being crushed physically, emotionally and culturally: a disgrace to humanity.
The book did a good job of displaying the workings of the strict hierarchy of the CP and its different organs. I certainly learned a lot. For that I give the book 3 stars.
But one has to consider this book as propaganda, since only the nice stuff is mentioned. Yes, there is indeed some good news about modern China, BUT AT WHAT PRICE?
No mention of the numerous political re-education centra (visible on any satellite map) which are basically concentration camps to provide free labor for multinationals. You can end up there before you know it. No trial needed. In China you can suddenly just stop existing.
No mention of Tibet.
No mention of the fate of the Uyghurs who are being crushed physically, emotionally and culturally: a disgrace to humanity.
The book did a good job of displaying the workings of the strict hierarchy of the CP and its different organs. I certainly learned a lot. For that I give the book 3 stars.
But one has to consider this book as propaganda, since only the nice stuff is mentioned. Yes, there is indeed some good news about modern China, BUT AT WHAT PRICE?
March 6, 2024
presidential term limits? a thriving real estate industry? this is... extremely out of date for something released in 2024; propaganda that misses its mark and manages to frighten rather than soothe.
February 25, 2024
This book was so objective and lacked substantive evidence for Li’s superficial views of China. Totally agree with one of the reviews that this is not China’s world view. I do not recommend.
May 4, 2024
I cannot tell how one-sided the China view in this book may be; however, even if it is seriously one-sided, it is still worth reading and understanding.
May 10, 2024
This is a hard book to peg down. I would definitely describe myself as a layperson as regards China with just a basic background of major negative points in its' history like the Cultural Revolution, the Nanjing Massacre and Tiananmen Square etc. I picked up the book as I have been interested in the rise of China and heard debates on both sides of it.
All in all I have divided feelings about the book. I would say about a third of the book was new information to me that helped me better understand the background of the Chinese political system and that was extremely helpful. About a third of it was difficult to wade through as much of the book seems to be written more as an academic treatise and felt really dry with some of it feeling a little like a thesis project along the lines of, "Next, I'm going to show you xyz..." which felt formulaic. This was a little distracting to the overall message at times. The final third as others have mentioned felt more like propaganda and veiled or as the author would have it, "coded language" criticism of other governments. I didn't mind the criticism, and saw the points in some of it while I agreed to disagree with other parts of it. The propaganda was more irritating and could have done without. Overall however I felt that I learned a decent amount about the mindset of the Communist party and how it operates in China as well as how the many large businesses operate within the country and outside of it.
All in all I have divided feelings about the book. I would say about a third of the book was new information to me that helped me better understand the background of the Chinese political system and that was extremely helpful. About a third of it was difficult to wade through as much of the book seems to be written more as an academic treatise and felt really dry with some of it feeling a little like a thesis project along the lines of, "Next, I'm going to show you xyz..." which felt formulaic. This was a little distracting to the overall message at times. The final third as others have mentioned felt more like propaganda and veiled or as the author would have it, "coded language" criticism of other governments. I didn't mind the criticism, and saw the points in some of it while I agreed to disagree with other parts of it. The propaganda was more irritating and could have done without. Overall however I felt that I learned a decent amount about the mindset of the Communist party and how it operates in China as well as how the many large businesses operate within the country and outside of it.
April 5, 2024
It has been startling to hear the media begin discussing China as though it is some sort of neo-Soviet Union threat, not to mention the nonsense our former idiot savant (heavy on the idiot part) president spewed on the topic. This book refutes the notion that China is a threat to the West: as a developing nation, its primary interests are economic, not colonial. Let's hope the dudes stirring up a new Cold War panic can pause in their McCarthyite fear-mongering long enough to pay attention to that message.
As a related aside, I am curious why some readers have summarily dismissed this as propaganda. Li seems pretty moderate to me. He doesn't exactly sing the government's praises, and does refer to some of the more unsavory practices. The man lives under an authoritarian regime - what did people expect him to say? It's a horror, so he can lose his livelihood? Or, it's all great, which really would be propaganda about it? Did these people actually read the book, or is this a knee-jerk reaction they'd toss at anything written that diminishes the threat?
Regardless, this is interesting and informative, and I learned a good bit from it. I know it's not gonna be a bestseller, but I do wish it would be more widely read than it likely will be.
As a related aside, I am curious why some readers have summarily dismissed this as propaganda. Li seems pretty moderate to me. He doesn't exactly sing the government's praises, and does refer to some of the more unsavory practices. The man lives under an authoritarian regime - what did people expect him to say? It's a horror, so he can lose his livelihood? Or, it's all great, which really would be propaganda about it? Did these people actually read the book, or is this a knee-jerk reaction they'd toss at anything written that diminishes the threat?
Regardless, this is interesting and informative, and I learned a good bit from it. I know it's not gonna be a bestseller, but I do wish it would be more widely read than it likely will be.
April 5, 2024
A very informative and eye-opening read!
This book changed a lot of my views on China. Starting from the understanding that China is now more socialist than communist to the inner workings of its politics, government, economy and society to the non-existence of a "China Model", there is a lot to unpack.
The author's key message is that the rise of China is not a threat to the rest of the world, and in fact, will provide many global benefits. He does this in 17 chapters:
1: China as Number Two
2: History Is the Key to Understanding Today’s China
3: The Chinese Communist Party
4: The Central Government
5: Local Governments
6: Corruption
7: Government in the Economy
8: State-Owned Enterprises
9: Private Entrepreneurs: Heroes or Villains?
10: Education
11: The Media and the Internet
12: The Environment and Climate Change
13: Population and Population Policy
14: Is China a Super Bubble?
15: Is There a “Chinese Model”?
16: China’s World View
17: Why Is the Rise of China Good for the World?
This book changed a lot of my views on China. Starting from the understanding that China is now more socialist than communist to the inner workings of its politics, government, economy and society to the non-existence of a "China Model", there is a lot to unpack.
The author's key message is that the rise of China is not a threat to the rest of the world, and in fact, will provide many global benefits. He does this in 17 chapters:
1: China as Number Two
2: History Is the Key to Understanding Today’s China
3: The Chinese Communist Party
4: The Central Government
5: Local Governments
6: Corruption
7: Government in the Economy
8: State-Owned Enterprises
9: Private Entrepreneurs: Heroes or Villains?
10: Education
11: The Media and the Internet
12: The Environment and Climate Change
13: Population and Population Policy
14: Is China a Super Bubble?
15: Is There a “Chinese Model”?
16: China’s World View
17: Why Is the Rise of China Good for the World?
April 28, 2024
(Audiobook) You will get a different perspective on China from this one, written by a man who spans both worlds. China is definitely the American bogeyman, but Li will say that it probably should not be the case. His big argument is that China is too inward-looking/focused to be an external threat. Granted, China is big on making sure that no one is in a position to be able to dictate to them, or tell Beijing what it can and can't do. Thus the military and economic build-ups. Yet, for all of Li's efforts, it does not seem likely that he was be able to overcome the current trend of anti-China rhetoric and positions in America. Not sure that China will stay internally focused either. War is not inevitable, but there is a classic amount of misunderstanding and lack of knowledge, especially when it comes to America trying to figure out China.
A well-thought out book with good perspectives. Probably many will not like or accept this work, but it is worth the read to at least get a different perspective on things. The rating would be the same regardless of format.
A well-thought out book with good perspectives. Probably many will not like or accept this work, but it is worth the read to at least get a different perspective on things. The rating would be the same regardless of format.
April 24, 2024
Compelling challenge to what he might say is the West's scapegoating of China. Written to walk the line between western and Chinese nationalist audiences, it advocates for Chinese prosperity and comfort within the current world order. It doesn't, however, properly address western concerns about human rights, attributing these disagreements to fundamental (and irreconcilable) moral differences about the role of the state. Essentially, "China fulfills its paternal responsibility to its citizens, so don't come at us morally".
June 10, 2024
Pretty interesting. BLUF is claim that China cares about respect and that the form of government works for China. It’s fairly apologetic. The big piece it felt like was missing was how Chinas need for respect clashes with both human rights and free speech here at home. There’s a few other things it feels like it doesn’t take into account like how it feels like Xi is supporting Putin a lot more recently and Chinese propaganda in a bad way.
Overall interesting
Overall interesting
July 5, 2024
Much of what Americans believe about China and how they see the world is incorrect or incomplete. This book gives an accurate account that is based on real data, and an insider’s view of the market, the government and its cultural. I’m an American that’s lived and worked in China the last 18 years and can vouch for the authenticity of the narrative Li is painting. It’s a must-read if your work relates to China or you’re interested in a deeper understanding of the country.
May 4, 2024
David Li's "China's World View" provides a fascinating exploration of China's historical and political landscape. The book delves into the influence of dynasties and Confucianism on China's governance and the relationship between the government and its citizens. Li's explanation of the CCP's hierarchical structure, China Regulatory Commission's (CRC) perspective on IPOs in China, and Xi Jinping's crackdown on corruption and its accompanying short-term vs long-term impact on society was particularly insightful. The book also sheds light on China's motivations for wanting Taiwan and Hong Kong to be part of the PRC.
It is noteworthy to highlight that Li's perspective on how the CCP views itself and the rise of China being beneficial for the world may be biased. This view contrasts with how the US views China, particularly its concerns about copycatting and low-cost manufacturing tactics in various industries like electric vehicles and solar energy, which necessitate protectionist policies in the chips industries (eg Chips Act in the US).
It is noteworthy to highlight that Li's perspective on how the CCP views itself and the rise of China being beneficial for the world may be biased. This view contrasts with how the US views China, particularly its concerns about copycatting and low-cost manufacturing tactics in various industries like electric vehicles and solar energy, which necessitate protectionist policies in the chips industries (eg Chips Act in the US).
May 8, 2024
I have to give it an extra star for all the laughs.
One of my favorite spins in the book is defending the disastrous One Child Policy. Li explains that this was actually a good policy because it reduced China's carbon footprint despite the fact this period coincides with an exponential rise of emissions.
One of my favorite spins in the book is defending the disastrous One Child Policy. Li explains that this was actually a good policy because it reduced China's carbon footprint despite the fact this period coincides with an exponential rise of emissions.
May 27, 2024
Thought-provoking. I'm not educated enough on the topics covered to be able to fully assess the accuracy of everything, but it shows some perspectives that are worth considering, even if you ultimately disagree.
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