This book gives a general overview of the economic reforms taking place in China over the last 30-something years and makes for interesting, if sobering, reading. The author describes the intensive development of the Chinese economy and and how such fast paced growth, on a massive scale, is impacting the rest of the world. China's economies of scale and sheer productivity do make you wonder how any 'developed' country can possibly compete with it in the manufacturing sector.

The raw statistics behind China however are astonishing and I would have liked more of these, possibly in tables in an appendix for ease of access. Some maps would also have been helpful to picture geographically the different regions talked about, instead of having to consult an external source.

These are niggles however. This book is very readable and conveys a lot of information for relatively few pages. The author combines business journalism and statistics with stories about individuals and their lives and careers. This really helps to provide a human context for the bigger picture he is describing. It is also well sourced with what looks to be a good bibliography. Excellent. ( )

A solid overview of the challenges China's rise brings to the world and itself. ( )

A titan's rise and troubled future - and the challenge for America

Describing a country as huge as China is not an easy task, and specially when the country has its own set of contradictions, they have a communist government using capitalist methods to achieve necessary growth and momentum in the economy that keeps the country stable socially. James Kynge has done a wonderful job in describing the country, studying the different contradictions that the China story has to offer and also helps the reader to understand the implications of the rising nation. The narrative is a balanced one,and the fact that the author has spent a major part of his life in China and understands Mandarin, the local language gives an inside peep to the story which a mandarin illiterate guy could not have given.
There are many books written on China, but they delve too deep into the politics and policies of the dragon nation and fail to give its implication in a proper manner, however the author, through the book tries to cover as comprehensively as possible the different meaning and implication of the rising nation.
A must read if you want to understand the country ( )

Napoleon once said “let china sleep, for when she wakes, she will shake the world”.

James Kynge, former china bureau chief of best newspaper in the world (The Financial Times), won the FT / Goldman Sachs business book of the year award in 1996 with ‘China Shakes the World’ which is a superb, concise introduction to how and why china is shaping our world.
The first half tells the condensed history of china’s post-cultural revolution rise and illuminates its leading position during much of the last six thousand years.
the book starts off recounting the mysterious disappearance of manhole covers all over the world (with plenty of reports of unsuspecting pedestrians falling into the suddenly-there holes from Mongolia to Montreal) as a signal of when the direction of the world - China relationship switched: switching from how the outside world was changing China to how China was affecting the rest of the world. China’s voracious appetite for almost every conceivable resource including the scrap metal that those manholes were destined to become was just one signal that the causal direction was switching.
James has plenty of engaging first-hand accounts from his two decades living in china through which it often seems we are witnessing china’s economic transformation unfold through his eyes.

Some of the major themes / ideas that run throughout include:

* Businesses everywhere are finding it harder to compete (manufacturers in particular), the sustainability of Europe’s welfare state model is in question as the industrial base there is hollowed out;
* China out-competes and out-capitalizes everyone, including America;
* Chinese possess the impressive combo of intelligence and second-to-none work ethic;
* China through lowering the cost of goods and its insatiable appetite for us treasuries (in part to manage its currency) has fueled the low-interest rate driven housing boom and general drive for yield that has resulted in the current sub-prime, credit-crunch, free-fall dollar mess we’re in;
* 400 million people have been lifted above the poverty line over the last 28 years of above 9.5% economic growth.

My (could be briefer!) summary of some of the book’s chapters: http://shehabhamad.com/blog/2008/08/08/china-shakes-the-world-james-kynge/ ( )