James Kynge

This is a book about China's rise and what it means for us and the future, written by the FT correspondent in Beijing.

The first half is a detailed and frankly rather worring look at why it is difficult for anyone else in the world to compete with China as a manufacturer - a huge workforce willing to work hard for little pay, but also China's increasing ability to improve the quality of the goods it produces, buy the quality it can't make itself, and even put money into R&D as the sector show more starts to mature. It's very well written, though, and an easy read, with lots of personal stories, of the Chinese businessmen who came from nothing, as well as the losers (in China and the West).

The second half is billed as a counterbalance to this, demonstrating some of the weaknesses of China's rise. But this section is a lot more haphazard - at times, it feels as if it contains an anecdote or two about every major issue, from environmental degradation and corruption to China's support for pariah states and the question of Taiwan. It's rather like reading a collection of magazine articles - enjoyable, but it can be hard to discern the thread of the argument. Especially as most of the stories Kynge tells are pretty depressing, but he ends (rather abruptly) on an optimistic note, suggesting that China will never 'bite the hand that feeds it'.

However, I would still recommend this, as a good overview of what China is at the start of the 21st century, and what the issues will be in the future. show less

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 show more 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. show less

While written 11 years ago, what this book reports is still true. China's business practices have pretty much undermined the rest of the world's economy, and their workers are putting in long hours for very low pay to provide the world with low price goods that no country in the Americas or Europe can compete with. Anyone hoping to see a return of American prosperity through home grown manufacturing should wake up. It'll never happen, unless they're willing to work for 2 or 3 dollars an hour show more and put in 15 hour days. That's not likely to happen, and everyone will want to continue to pay the lowest possible prices at stores like Wal Mart for goods made in China, so learn to live with it. show less

My only complaint with this book was that it felt like nine long magazine articles cobbled together into a book. That makes sense based on the history of Kynge writing for the Financial Times. Aside from that, I found these stories very interesting and thought provoking. I had to put the book down frequently to think about the events and examples from the book. I feel that it does an excellent job of blending human interest stories with government and business reporting. There is a reason show more that it has won so many awards - because it does an excellent job of portraying the rise of a very complicated and nuanced nation. show less