China's World View

A distinguished Chinese economist offers a timely, essential exploration of China’s perspective on economy, government, society, and its position in the world.

Dr. David Daokui Li has served as an advisor to senior Chinese Communist Party leaders as well as major multinational corporations and international economic institutions. Writing in response to the growing anti-Chinese sentiment and alarmed by the threat of war, Dr. Li pulls from his wealth of firsthand experience to demystify contemporary Chinese society and advocate for understanding between China and the West. In this urgently needed and fascinating book, he explains the inner workings of a rising superpower to help the world understand how it works—and how to work with it.

In Li’s hands, an economic and political system that often baffles Westerners becomes coherent, sophisticated, and logical. He begins by explaining how two thousand years of history—from Confucian philosophy and ancient imperial dynasties to Communist Party chairmen from Mao to Deng Xiaoping—profoundly influence China’s leadership today. Li brings the reader into high-level meetings he attended with figures including Xi Jinping, showing China’s approach to governance.

Many Westerners imagine that China’s economy and society are as rigid and ideological as Soviet Russia. In his far-reaching exploration of the Chinese economy—from state-owned enterprises, private businesses, the stock market, education, media and the internet to real estate, the environment, and much more—Li reveals that China’s economy and society are in fact diverse, dynamic, and flexible.

In demystifying contemporary Chinese society, Li helps readers reconceptualize contemporary China and the implications of its growth. He asserts that China’s rise will be beneficial for the global order, holding out the hope that with shared understanding and mutual learning the Chinese and Western systems will eventually find a way to peacefully coexist.