China: Fragile Superpower—Book Review

This is one of my new favorite books on China.Fantastic insight from someone who has been here for more than 30 years, Susan Shirk knows not only about China’s history and current political and economic situation but she knows the leaders, personally. Her insights into their fears, their decision making, their expectations and their historical chains are the most insightful and up-to-date that I’ve read on china—and I’ve read more than 30 books on China in the past couple of years.If you want to know where the leaders of China are headed and why they’re taking China in that direction, Shirk can tell you. This isn’t just a book about politics and the personalities in office, it’s a book about how the people and the system affect the business decisions of the Chinese economy.The book is filled with first hand accounts of the major events in China over the last few decades. Personal story after personal experience gives the events in China’s recent growth both personal insight and current applicability. Shirk was the former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State responsible for US relations with China and is currently a Professor at UC-San Diego.As the name implies, this book is certainly written with a cautious if not hesitant tone. But I find that in the current atmosphere of exploding stock markets and real estate bubbles, caution is good. I think that most investors in China and many SME’s that come here for business assume that money is money and business is business and China is open for business just like the West. This is not the case. Informed decision are always best—this book is the opportunity to inform yourself as to the nature of the worlds largest state controlled command economy.