A review by skitch41
Wealth and Power: China's Long March to the Twenty-first Century by Orville Schell, John Delury
4.0
(Full Disclosure: I had the honor of meeting one of the co-authors of this book and getting my copy signed by him. Having said that, the views expressed here are my own and do not reflect that of the author or publisher.)
In recent years China has seen explosively economic growth. Even though China's growth is expected to slow down this year, it is still predicted to grow at an estimated 6-7%, a rate that most other countries envy. It has also allowed China to stretch its legs in international politics by joining the WTO and laying claims to disputed islands in the South China Sea. While China's economic and political rise may seem like a relatively recent event, especially when considered in the context of China's long history stretching back several millennia, its rise has been a long-sought-after goal stretching all the way back to the beginning of the 19th century. This wonderful book charts modern China's fall and rise through a series of biographical sketches of key Chinese scholars and political leaders such as Wei Yuan, the Empress Dowager Cixi, Sun Yat-Sen, Mao Zedong, and Deng Xiaoping. Each of these figures wrestled with the question of how to restore China to wealth and power in their own time and in their own way. Through their struggles we see how China's humiliation at the hands of the Western powers in the 19th century still haunts the country today. But what is also interesting is how, like a leit motif throughout a beautiful symphony, the question of where democracy and human rights fits into China's desires comes up repeatedly. Needless to say, many of these leaders had a complicated relationship with democracy ranging from hesitancy to outright hostility. The exception would be the last biographical sketch on Liu Xiaobo, the Chinese democracy activist who won China's first Nobel Peace Prize, but is still in jail for his activities. The point the authors seem to be making with his inclusion at the end is that, now that China has attained wealth and power, public figures like Liu Xiaobo may become more prominent in the future. The question that the authors leave us with is whether democracy is something Westerners desire for China or Chinese desire for themselves. Not all of the biographies in this book are great. The one covering Sun Yat-Sen was particularly forgettable, in spite of his influence on the thoughts of China's leaders in the 20th century. Still, this is a great history/multiple biography of modern China that I would highly recommend to anyone wanting to learn more about this increasingly wealthy and powerful country.
In recent years China has seen explosively economic growth. Even though China's growth is expected to slow down this year, it is still predicted to grow at an estimated 6-7%, a rate that most other countries envy. It has also allowed China to stretch its legs in international politics by joining the WTO and laying claims to disputed islands in the South China Sea. While China's economic and political rise may seem like a relatively recent event, especially when considered in the context of China's long history stretching back several millennia, its rise has been a long-sought-after goal stretching all the way back to the beginning of the 19th century. This wonderful book charts modern China's fall and rise through a series of biographical sketches of key Chinese scholars and political leaders such as Wei Yuan, the Empress Dowager Cixi, Sun Yat-Sen, Mao Zedong, and Deng Xiaoping. Each of these figures wrestled with the question of how to restore China to wealth and power in their own time and in their own way. Through their struggles we see how China's humiliation at the hands of the Western powers in the 19th century still haunts the country today. But what is also interesting is how, like a leit motif throughout a beautiful symphony, the question of where democracy and human rights fits into China's desires comes up repeatedly. Needless to say, many of these leaders had a complicated relationship with democracy ranging from hesitancy to outright hostility. The exception would be the last biographical sketch on Liu Xiaobo, the Chinese democracy activist who won China's first Nobel Peace Prize, but is still in jail for his activities. The point the authors seem to be making with his inclusion at the end is that, now that China has attained wealth and power, public figures like Liu Xiaobo may become more prominent in the future. The question that the authors leave us with is whether democracy is something Westerners desire for China or Chinese desire for themselves. Not all of the biographies in this book are great. The one covering Sun Yat-Sen was particularly forgettable, in spite of his influence on the thoughts of China's leaders in the 20th century. Still, this is a great history/multiple biography of modern China that I would highly recommend to anyone wanting to learn more about this increasingly wealthy and powerful country.