The Writing On The Wall: China And The West In The 21St Century

Description

China constitutes a fifth of the world's population. Over the last twenty years its economy has doubled to make it the fifth largest economy in the world; if the pace is repeated over the next twenty it is set to become second only to the US. The speed of its development is stunning, a combination of cheap labour and commitment to science and technology that has never been matched by a developing country. The Pearl River Delta, Shanghai and Beijing have become city-regions whose growth and embrace of modernity strike the visitor with awesome force. This is a continent on the move, recovering the world position and wealth it once had. The re-emergence of China as a superpower constitutes the biggest challenge the world has had for more than a century. Never before in modern times has the financial, trade, economic and diplomatic world pecking order been so profoundly reconstituted with the challenger country itself in the grips of incredible ideological and political change. This is a transition both internally in China and externally in the world beyond beset by hazard and risk. The world's peace and prosperity depends upon it being executed successfully.

Will Hutton is chief executive of the Work Foundation and columnist for the OBSERVER, where he was editor, then editor-in-chief for four years.

** 'Hutton's most provocatively enjoyable work to date' Martin Vander Weyer, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH ** 'A typically contrarian verdict on the tiger economy of the middle kingdom' Robert McCrum, OBSERVER Books to Watch in 2007 ** 'Pertinent and provocative' HERALD ** 'A very informative, wide-ranging and readable study of the threat that China poses to itself and to the rest of the world' IRISH TIMES ** 'A thoughtful and useful corrective to the gushing praise of the uncritical sinofans' Howard Davies, MANAGEMENT TODAY ** 'There is much to be learned by reading The Writing on the Wall. Hutton is right to rub the noses of starry-eyed Western governments and investors in the formidable difficulties China faces' GUARDIAN ** 'Compelling ... this is a good book' OBSERVER ** 'The case he lays out is stark and well argued ... this book makes uncomfortable reading in Beijing - and for the rest of us whose fate is now bound up with the gamble that they can pull it off' NEW STATESMAN ** 'A lively and informative read ... engaging, like a robust conversation with a super-enthusiast' IRISH INDEPENDENT ** ' "Will Hutton's ability to articulate contemporary anxieties border on genius." This remark, cited on the dust-cover of his latest book must be true: I wrote it. The Writing on the Wall is a superb demonstration of my thesis ... Hutton takes on the most important political and economic story of our time. He has also produced a thought-provoking, wide-ranging and largely correct analysis' FINANCIAL TIMES ** 'I read it with amazement - and I have been paying attention to China since 1955 - and profit ... [this] is good thinking and Hutton, a journalist who writes persuasive plain English, makes his case, at some - necessary - length' SPECTATOR ** 'Hutton adeptly brings a massive - and significant - question down to size' RTE ** 'Hutton is surgical in his arguments' MAGILL ** 'Important ... A necessary and enlightening analysis' WATERSTONES BOOKS QUARTERLY ** 'Hutton certainly knows his econoics and any reader can profit from what he has to say' INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE