*China’s World View: Demystifying China to Prevent Global Conflict*

That is a forthcoming book by David Daokiu Li.  Perhaps it is the very best book explaining “how China works today?”

“What should I read on China?  Which single book?” — those are two of the most common questions I receive.  There are plenty of perfectly fine history books, but I am never sure what I should recommend.  Now I have an answer to that question.  Here is one short excerpt from the text:

Many people in China are concerned with the side effects of the massive anticorruption campaign.  The first side effect is that government officials, especially those dealing with economic affairs, have now become inert.  The reason is that active officials almost surely create enemies or grumbling groups, such as through the demolition of an old building to make room for new investments.  These groups would bring their cases, and perhaps even historical cases, to the party discipline committee.  On their path to promotion and their current positions, most officials have either intentionally or unintentionally engaged in practices that are not in compliance with today’s tighter government rules.  In the Chinese reform process, laws and regulations are gradually implemented and then tightened.  The anticorruption campaign is using today’s tighter regulations to judge the past conduct of officials, which occurred when the rules were either looser or entirely unclear.  As a result, officials today are extremely hesitant to take any action that would make them stand out or draw extra attention, even if those actions are in the best interests of the locale or department they serve.

The author covers much more, including the importance of history, how the CCP works, local governments, SOEs, education, media and the internet, the environment, population, and much more.

There should be a book like this about every country.

I should note that the author lives in Beijing, so he soft pedals some of the more negative interpretations of the data, but ultimately I think this is much more fruitful than the books by journalist outsiders.  The analysis is here, and you can do the moralizing on your own, if that is how you want it.

Definitely recommended, a very real contribution.