When China Rules the World: The End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order

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When China Rules the World: The End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order

3.67 of 5 stars 3.67 · rating details · 384 ratings · 64 reviews

How China's ascendance as an economic superpower will alter the cultural, political, social, and ethnic balance of global power in the twenty-first century, unseating the West and in the process creating a whole new world.

According to even the most conservative estimates, China will overtake the United States as the world's largest economy by 2027 and will ascend to the p...more How China's ascendance as an economic superpower will alter the cultural, political, social, and ethnic balance of global power in the twenty-first century, unseating the West and in the process creating a whole new world.

According to even the most conservative estimates, China will overtake the United States as the world's largest economy by 2027 and will ascend to the position of world economic leader by 2050. But the full repercussions of China's ascendancy-for itself and the rest of the globe-have been surprisingly little explained or understood. In this far-reaching and original investigation, Martin Jacques offers provocative answers to some of the most pressing questions about China's growing place on the world stage.

Martin Jacques reveals, by elaborating on three historical truths, how China will seek to shape the world in its own image. The Chinese have a rich and long history as a civilization-state. Under the tributary system, outlying states paid tribute to the Middle Kingdom. Ninety-four percent of the population still believes they are one race-"Han Chinese." The strong sense of superiority rooted in China's history promises to resurface in twenty-first century China and in the process strengthen and further unify the country.

A culturally self-confident Asian giant with a billion-plus population, China will likely resist globalization as we know it. This exceptionalism will have powerful ramifications for the rest of the world and the United States in particular. As China is already emerging as the new center of the East Asian economy, the mantle of economic and, therefore, cultural relevance will in our lifetimes begin to pass from Manhattan and Paris to cities like Beijing and Shanghai. It is the American relationship with and attitude toward China, Jacques argues, that will determine whether the twenty-first century will be relatively peaceful or fraught with tension, instability, and danger.

When China Rules the World is the first book to fully conceive of and explain the upheaval that China's ascendance will cause and the realigned global power structure it will create.(less)

Hardcover, 576 pages

Published November 12th 2009 by Penguin Press HC, The (first published 2008)

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Dec 12, 2011 Whitaker rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: geopolitics, china, 2011-read

Update: 13 December 2011

The Atlantic Monthly had an excellent article that I thought was quite revealing about how evolution towards greater public space for diverse opinions in China will and will not follow American trends. The article, “Clash of Civilizations: The Confusion of Being a Chinese Student in America”, is well-worth reading in full.

Brian, this might interest you in particular. The extracted comments below illustrate well, I feel, the different cultural views that the Chinese have...more

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Jul 29, 2011 Nilesh rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: economic-and-finance

Write a review…A different book. Almost all the books I have read on China provide a Western perspective: what is likely to happen given the Western concepts of what is right and just, what should happen to keep Western values/hegemony intact, how West should shape China's growing powers etc or how according to Western experiences, China's political and economic future is going to be. This book provides the exact anti-thesis.

As a result, the book is as biased as any one is likely to come across....more

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Mar 09, 2010 Ann rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Lately there have been a lot of negative reviews about this book, here for example, a review that equates Jacques with (cringe!) Bernard Lewis and Samuel Huntington of neo-con fame. This review, like others, calls Jacques view of China negative (racism thing, coming culture clash). I have say, almost having finished with this book, that's not what I took from Jacques message but then, I like to think I'm smarter than the average bear.

What's important to keep in mind while reading this book is to...more

4 likes · like · see review

AC For what it's worth, I agree with you 110%. 'Critics' (and I use the term loosely) have missed both the substance AND the seriousness of tone of this...more
Mar 16, 2010 07:07pm

Jimmy I had this book on my bookshelf for two years before reading it, but when I did, I couldn't stop. I had positioned at as a popular commercial book, an...more
Sep 22, 2012 06:51am

Mar 23, 2010 AC rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: china, markets, current-events

After a long hiatus I've gone back to finish this. It is, in my opinion, one of the most important books written on the topic in many years -- insightful, intelligent, never dogmatic, informed by a true historical vision -- it is a book that I think will long outlast its critics... of which there seem to be quite a few.

I have read some of the reviews of this book -- not all, of course -- and have to say that I have rarely seen so many understand so little. For the most part, they seem to have si...more

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Jan 04, 2013 Adrian rated it 5 of 5 stars

An initial reading the title of Martin Jacques's study may give on the impression that this is to be yet another work in the continuing cliché over the decline of the US, and the rise of the rest, specifically China. This book, however, is more than that.
When China rules the world is in fact a broad based study that covers many aspects, political, economic, and sociological. The sociological study very precisely and elaborately pins the case that Chinese culture, in both a societal and political...more An initial reading the title of Martin Jacques's study may give on the impression that this is to be yet another work in the continuing cliché over the decline of the US, and the rise of the rest, specifically China. This book, however, is more than that.
When China rules the world is in fact a broad based study that covers many aspects, political, economic, and sociological. The sociological study very precisely and elaborately pins the case that Chinese culture, in both a societal and political manner, is very resistant to change, and even when change comes, it does so on Chinese terms. Jacques, at some length, uses the example of Japan, which, despite it's modernity, has retained it's cultural and societal norms in a very complete sense.
With this precedent already established, Jacques examines how China has had a missionary or mother civilization approach to it's region, and how, even in the course of the 20th century, Confucian norms and approaches continued, even under the reign of Mao, a self declared opponent of Confucianism.
The book is as much about how China sees the world, and it's own views on relations between nations. This points to a possible return to the Tributary system in the future, rather than the Westphalian system of today.
The author makes no naïve assumptions about the fact that China suffers from a superiority complex, regarding neighboring countries as inferior, and similarly, those of Africa. Anyone who has spent time in China will be familiar with how the Chinese regard black people, and this is examined at some length within this book, certainly giving more light on the subject of China's racism than any other book has provided.
The sections examining China's economy could have been due some more introspection, as they appear somewhat one sided. Jacques moves the date at which China surpasses the US in economic strength forward to 2018, taking into account the Western Economic Crisis. However, Jacques does not consider the weaknesses in the Chinese economy, something that is being talked about more openly, in editorials, academic circles, and regular people. For Economic studies on China, it is worth examining Red Capitalism or Chindia, which paint a far less grandiose image of China's economy.
Regardless of particularly slanted views in some sections, one cannot help but admire the breadth and scope of Jacques's work. This is by far the best analytical study on Chinese culture I have yet read, and is highly recommended. (less)

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Nov 16, 2012 Jakey Gee rated it 4 of 5 stars

Hugely interesting, in general, and a good grounding in some key tenets of Chinese culture and politics. I came to this as one of those readers for whom China is known mostly through the BBC World Service and the odd flare up over Taiwan and Japan – and from the angle of a stratospheric economy run by a fantasy communist party that doesn’t allow protests or Facebook. It’s also pretty good on Japan, as a powerful contrast to China’s journey. I found the coverage of racism and the Chinese superior...more Hugely interesting, in general, and a good grounding in some key tenets of Chinese culture and politics. I came to this as one of those readers for whom China is known mostly through the BBC World Service and the odd flare up over Taiwan and Japan – and from the angle of a stratospheric economy run by a fantasy communist party that doesn’t allow protests or Facebook. It’s also pretty good on Japan, as a powerful contrast to China’s journey. I found the coverage of racism and the Chinese superiority complex really interesting too (though I’m not sure I buy the idea of Japan’s sputtering being down to it hitting its goal of catching the US…like some sort of Elvis on cheeseburgers).

What worried me – and began to irritate me as the long story progressed – was Martin Jacques’ central belief that nations and politics are unavoidably the product of historical experience, and that indelible, centuries-old characteristics will predestine a country to one type of system. This is the moral relativist line that the red-green left are fond of: that swarthy Asiatics don’t want property rights, female suffrage or habeas corpus - for that is their culture, see. This is used to explain why China doesn’t do democracy – for that is a fading Western thing – and why, apparently, ‘the Chinese’ believe that the state should play a very prominent role in everyday life and don’t want (I exaggerate a bit) political freedoms.

I mean, get this line: ‘..the state remains venerated above society, possessed of great prestige, regarded as the embodiment of what China is, and the guarantor of the country’s stability and unity. It’s the quintessence of China…’.

Really? Really? Those are some pretty forceful claims. This being China, we don’t see much in the way of what the everyday citizen actually believes. What would we hear if we asked some Chinese people too?

So at times, it sounded to me a bit like those thirties accounts of the new Soviet Union – where a dazzled, wide-eyed left-leaning Western observer buys the line that this society doesn’t want civil rights – for that is not the Russian way.

I also felt it was very generous to the party in power too. Perhaps they are very clever and do take a wonderfully sage, long view – but they’re still the thugs who butchered thousands of students in 1989 on global TV networks. They’re also apparently eminently ‘Confucian’ in their behaviour (Jacques says this is the bedrock of governance). Now, I don’t know much about Confucianism beyond it being an ethical / moral system. But the World Service stories about Xi Jinping’s accumulated multi-million fortune didn’t suggest he had been up to much that was ethical or moral of late.

I also started to feel the jarring of a slight tone of glee in his coverage of the decline of democracy and Western values (of which the essence is, in his view, the 2008 financial crash), and wanted to shout ‘Martin, come come! You surely do still like free presses and elections, right?’ For someone who writes for a social democratic newspaper, he can sound remarkably comfortable with a future of contested and (apparently equally valid) modernities.

Lastly, it’s very long, despite the Kindle dividend that means it’s over by 70%. I often found myself thinking ‘Hang on, we’ve covered ‘civilisation-state-not-nation-state’ / tributary systems / contested modernity three times already'. It could do with a bit of editing and economy.

So, inspiring and bloody interesting. But a little light on backbone.
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May 11, 2012 Jim rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: business, history

I read this book because I'm spending much of he next two years working in China, and felt I should have some idea about what the country was like. In this regard, the book is informative. It gives you a potted history of the country, how they see themselves and why they are how they are. If I had actually read this book before I arrived, I would probably have been better prepared for what I experieced here.

The strengths of the book lie in the explanation of the Chinese psychology. Their history...more I read this book because I'm spending much of he next two years working in China, and felt I should have some idea about what the country was like. In this regard, the book is informative. It gives you a potted history of the country, how they see themselves and why they are how they are. If I had actually read this book before I arrived, I would probably have been better prepared for what I experieced here.

The strengths of the book lie in the explanation of the Chinese psychology. Their history and "distinctive beliefs" are explained pretty well here, and help me understand them much better. Should I ever have to deal with the "coming Chinese" when I move back to the UK, I think this book will help me understand them.

The weaknesses of the book lie in its' tendency to be slightly repetitive. Certain ideas (like Chinese conviction of their own superiority and their belief in Confucianism for example) get talked about repeatedly (and not just in the sections where they are rightly discussed). The first couple of times they are repeated you might find the idea useful (and allow it to stick in the memory because of that repetition). After that, you'll start thinking that he's mentioned this before and start wanting him to move on.

In addition to the weaknesses of the book, their are a couple of other problems that I had with the book's contents. First, I don't think that it will tell anything new to someone who knows a lot about China. Maybe this isn't the aim of the book, but I don't view myself as a Chinese aficionado, and I found myself thinking "Come on I knew that" a fair bit.

The other thing is that I found it depressing. I'm proud of being English. The book, however, made me more concerned that the Chinese aren't going to change. Their convictions about their skills and their premier position in the world, has made me more hawkish about China and globalisation. I am now extremely wary of what the Chinese are up to, and I think that probably wasn't the point of the book.(less)

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Dec 25, 2011 Mazia Izzatika Chekova rated it 4 of 5 stars

Buku yang ditulis oleh Martin Jacques ini mengurai tentang peradaban Cina di mulai dari sejarah, ekonomi, militer—keamanan dan arsitektur kemegahan Cina sendiri. Buku ini pertama keluar semenjak tahun 2009, cetakkan pertama di Indonesia sudah sejak Juni, 2011 dan kini sudah hendak memasuki tahun 2012. Masih relevankah untuk di baca? Tentu saja. Pergerakan Cina saat ini telah mengalami masa yang lebih kompleks karena peranannya dalam menghadapi tekanan-tekanan baik dari internal maupun eksternal....more Buku yang ditulis oleh Martin Jacques ini mengurai tentang peradaban Cina di mulai dari sejarah, ekonomi, militer—keamanan dan arsitektur kemegahan Cina sendiri. Buku ini pertama keluar semenjak tahun 2009, cetakkan pertama di Indonesia sudah sejak Juni, 2011 dan kini sudah hendak memasuki tahun 2012. Masih relevankah untuk di baca? Tentu saja. Pergerakan Cina saat ini telah mengalami masa yang lebih kompleks karena peranannya dalam menghadapi tekanan-tekanan baik dari internal maupun eksternal. Cina secara bersamaan besar tapi miskin, kuat tapi lemah. Dan di sana, sampai perubahan atmosfir ekonomi-politik terjadi, hal itu akan tetap sama, meskipun tingkat pertumbuhannya cukup dan prestasi ekonomi yang meningkat.
Martin Jacques juga mengakui bahwa masalah-masalah ekonomi itu ada bahkan saat Cina terengah-engah dengan ekstrapolasi pertumbuhan ekonomi. Dalam hal ini Jacques berkontribusi dalam menunjukkan kekuatan ekonomi Cina melalui berbagai variabel. Pertama, dalam masa percobaan, Cina telah mengizinkan hak penduduk untuk memiliki tanah pribadi. Kedua, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) telah menuangkan dana ke Cina lebih dari $ 500 miliar. Ketiga, dibandingkan dengan Uni Soviet, Cina telah menghancurkan semua harapan kegagalan bagi masa depan negara bekas sosialisme-kapitalisme. Keempat, penurunan kemiskinan telah membantu mengurangi permasalahan krisis ekonomi bagi warga Cina. Mungkin faktor yang paling jelas adalah tenaga kerja mana yang mungkin mencapai 1 miliar pada 2020. Dengan demikian Cina tidak hanya memiliki ekonomi mengukuhkan sebagai sebuah kekuatan ekonomi, budaya yang unik dan masyarakat Cina yang akan membantu mempertahankan stabilitas politik dan ekonomi. Secara keseluruhan, masa depan Cina yang dominan mungkin muncul tak terelakkan.
Cina sebagai negara adidaya ekonomi menyajikan implikasi monolitik dengan segudang konsekuensi. Meski tetap sulit bagi kita menerima pendapat bahwa terlalu muluk-muluk jika Cina nantinya akan memerintah dunia sebagaimana modernitas Barat yang didefinisikan—dalam demokrasi, nilai-nilai Pencerahan, kapitalisme dan kemajuan dengan masa lalu Cina yang sangat erat dengan sosialisme-komunisme.
Cina bukan negara bangsa (nation state), begitulah Martin menulis, melainkan suatu keadaan peradaban (civilization). Hal menarik untuk dikaji adalah bagaimana posisi Cina sebagai sebuah peradaban ini bisa lebih menguasai ketimbang sebagai negara. Misalnya saja dia menganggap bahwa sebetulnya sejak tahun 1800 perekonomian dunia bukan Eurosentris tetapi sudah Polisentris dimana Cina dan India sebagai perekonomian terbesar. Pernyataan ini menganggap bahwa bukan tidak mungkin jika masa itu akan datang kembali, dengan pertumbuhan Cina dan sumber daya manusia yang dimilikinya.
Secara historis, Cina telah menganggap dirinya sebagai berada di pusat dunia dan telah menerima pandangan-pandangan kelompok lain sebagai superioritas, sebuah rasisme yang tertanam dalam jiwa Cina, Jacques berpendapat provokatif. Kong Hu Chu akan menjadi kepercayaan kuat bagi masyarakat Cina untuk terus tumbuh, sebuah negara pusat yang kuat dan murah hati dalam memperbaiki kondisi rakyat. Dalam hal ini seolah-olah muncul pandangan bahwa Komunisme adalah ekspresi kontemporer Konfusianisme. Ini adalah bagian yang paling eyecatching dari Cina saat ini, seolah-olah mengajak untuk waspada akan datangnya nilai-nilai Asia yang secara tidak langsung memasuki kehidupan manusia di segala penjuru. Namun, kedekatan antara Konfusianisme dan Komunisme bukan merupakan wawasan baru tentu saja.
Bagaimana pun Inggris, Perancis, Jerman dan Amerika Serikat juga peradaban negara, didefinisikan sebagai budaya dan sejarah yang berbeda dalam batas yurisdiksi mereka melalui bahasa atau hukum misalnya. Semua dalam berbagai cara bahwa bentuk dari Pencerahan Eropa (Renaissance) ini bisa diakomodasi dengan melacak nilai-nilai inti untuk republik Roma dan para filsuf Yunani.
Buku ini pernah menjadi buku paling laris dan mengagetkan, karena sifat topik dan realitas kondisi geopolitik Cina yang juga semakin berpengaruh. Bagi mahasiswa Hubungan Internasional, buku ini sangat direkomendasikan baik yang secara langsung mengkaji kondisi politik Cina, Asia Pasifik atau pun secara tidak langsung mengkaji. Tidak salah jika sabda Rasullullah, “Tuntutlah ilmu sekalipun ke negeri Cina” merupakan cerminan jiwa yang visoner.
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Oct 12, 2011 Clinton rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, political

When China Rules the World, the book pronounces the emergence of a new impetus and burgeoning economic power, and within the next 15-20 years, China is threatening to dethrone the United States as the global economic superpower. The projected economic prowess of China is staggering.
Future indications and projections are scary for America suggesting a major shift in the global economic landscape. In 2025, projected GDP numbers indicate the sudden rise of China. However, projections further into t...more When China Rules the World, the book pronounces the emergence of a new impetus and burgeoning economic power, and within the next 15-20 years, China is threatening to dethrone the United States as the global economic superpower. The projected economic prowess of China is staggering.
Future indications and projections are scary for America suggesting a major shift in the global economic landscape. In 2025, projected GDP numbers indicate the sudden rise of China. However, projections further into the future suggest a much scary scenario where China will not only pass the United States, but in 2050, China by then will have doubled the GDP of the U.S.
The sudden rise of China and the incremental stumbling of the U.S. have created the current dilemma for both nations that being the U.S. a major consumer and China a major producer; success is heavily dependent on one another. While China is rising, the U.S. is showing symptoms of imperialism, which include maintaining military presence throughout the world, lack of manufacturing, living beyond our means, trade deficit and debt and the decline in value of the dollar.
Jacques contributes numerous variables into the ascendancy of China as a major economic power. First, in an experiment, China allowed residents the right to own private land. Second, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is pouring into China in excess of $500 billion. Third, in comparison with the USSR, China has crushed all expectations of failure. Fourth, the decline in poverty has helped countless number of Chinese citizens. Probably the most obvious factor is the labor force where it may reach 1 billion by 2020.
Lastly, not only has economics solidified China as an economic power, the most preeminent aspect is the unique culture and society of China that will help sustain political and economic stability for posterity. Overall, Martin Jacques examination of China’s future politically and economically is mind boggling. The future of a dominant China may appear inevitable. The intellectual curiosity is inspiring and poignant; China as the economic superpower presents monolithic implications with a myriad of ramifications. The U.S. has many challenges, and China is atop the list on the agenda, and U.S. leadership is failing masterly.
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Aug 04, 2011 Megan (Book Brats) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Megan (Book Brats) by: Professor

Shelves: politics, school-reading, nonfiction, four-stars

This book was assigned reading for me in a graduate-level Chinese foreign relations class. I didn’t expect much going in, but I was pleasantly surprised, both with the level of analysis offered by Jacques and with the readability. Like many students, I’ve been inundated for years with wordy scholarly pieces that make little sense to my homework-addled mind, but this book was actually fun to read, exciting and interesting with each turn of the page. It made me interested to learn more about China...more

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Feb 04, 2010 Ed rated it 5 of 5 stars

Well this is the one book everyone should read. It should change your take on the future and make the future less of a shock when it happens. Jacques' interesting idea is that China is a 3000 year old civilization that until 1800 was probably the biggest economy in the world and by about 2025 it will be back in that role and that it will not do this by becoming a western clone. The western world is in for a big shock when its free market, democratic, individual rights model is challenged by a st...more

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Jun 02, 2012 Michael rated it 2 of 5 stars

I finally gave up on this. I just couldn't suffer through the last 100-150 pages. While I agree with the thesis (that China's growing economic power will make it the most influential nation of the 21st century, and that this shift will have far reaching consequences that the world is only starting to feel), I was unable to get more than a couple of pages at a time before I found some other assertion by the author that was often (at best) unsupported by his previous text and occasionally (at wors...more

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Jul 05, 2010 Dian rated it 4 of 5 stars

For anyone interested in China, this is a must read book. Here are two quotes from the book jacket:
-"A grounbreaking investigation of how China's rise as an economic superpower will alter the cultural, political and ethnic balance of global power in the twenty-first century."
-"By drawing extensively on Chinese history, Jacques reveals how the widespread belief that China is becoming more like the West is deeply mistaken - in fact, an increasingly power China will seek to shape the world in its o...more

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Mar 02, 2010 Jennifer (JC-S) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

‘Western hegemony is neither a product of nature nor is it eternal. On the contrary, at some point it will come to an end.’

In this book, Martin Jacques argues that the continued rise of China will result in a different model of world power. Mr Jacques argues that China can achieve economic and political dominance without becoming a Western-style democracy and that, when it does, it will make its own rules.

In Mr Jacques view, China will exemplify an alternative model for development, one which is...more ‘Western hegemony is neither a product of nature nor is it eternal. On the contrary, at some point it will come to an end.’

In this book, Martin Jacques argues that the continued rise of China will result in a different model of world power. Mr Jacques argues that China can achieve economic and political dominance without becoming a Western-style democracy and that, when it does, it will make its own rules.

In Mr Jacques view, China will exemplify an alternative model for development, one which is likely to spell the end of the West’s economic, political and cultural dominance. China is growing at a rapid rate, and is having a significant impact on the world economy with its demand for raw materials, its supply of manufactured goods and its role as the world’s leading creditor.

There are a number of different aspects of this book which make it well worth reading. I was particularly interested in Mr Jacques’s views on China’s economic strengths and weaknesses. Mr Jacques’s discussion of the modernization of Japan was particularly interesting: it provides both a basis for comparison and a likely contrast.

I have mixed feelings about this book: I enjoyed reading many of the points made by Mr Jacques, and the facts and figures, tables and graphs chosen to illustrate those points. For me, the major point is not whether (and when) China will ‘rule the world’. Instead, the discussion should be about the political, economic and cultural shape of a world in which China is the dominant economic power and political entity. Mr Jacques claims that: ‘In an important sense, China does not aspire to run the world because it already believes itself to be the centre of the world, this being its natural role and position.’ This view of the Middle Kingdom rests on thousands of years of history and culture, and on geography and size.

This book covers a number of important issues, and also provides a bibliography for those interested in reading more about China. Mr Jacques may not have all of the answers, but he has certainly identified many of the issues.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith
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Jun 05, 2013 Gencc rated it 4 of 5 stars

I could not agree entirely with author. As a native Chinese, I don't really see the effect of Confucianism has on the modern China. Since the cultural revolution, there is a rupture in the inheritance of Confucianism. As of now, I don't see a serious revival of it. The author's arguments on the Confucianism as an important line of Civilization as the Hellenistic one, which provides a competing alternative to the "contested modernity" can be seriously harmed by the fact that Confucianism itself i...more

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May 11, 2011 Hadrian rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: asian, economics-finance-business, history, nonfiction, politics-and-foreign-policy, chinese

A very interesting premise. The book is divided into two parts, of varying quality - about the fall of the western world, and the rise of the Chinese. Covers both topics from a historical, economic, and political perspective.

Some of the conclusion are very interesting (e.g. China will modernize in its own way with a relatively authoritarian government, and not necessarily follow the Western method of industrialization which also involves greater social liberties), but some of the chapters and as...more

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Jan 07, 2013 Ignatius Tan rated it 2 of 5 stars

The problem with this book is that there is a mass of facts presented but I can't seem to see them structured into a coherent set of arguments to support the thesis as set out in the title of the book. Furthermore, a lot of facts that would argue against the rise of China were not presented and countered to sufficiently defend the central thesis.

As an ethnic Chinese person, I find it ironic that this book has been described as an assault on conventional thinking about China, since it very much r...more

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Jul 17, 2012 Andrew G. Gibson rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is, as everyone says, an important and timely book. Of course it is. The more interesting point is that it's actually rather good, and admirably coherent. Unlike some other recent books on China, which seem to hinge on one idea and uses it as a crow-bar with which to attack all issues relating to China (Will Hutton is definitely guilty in this regard), or one approach to the world (as with Kissinger and yet another book nominally about Realpolitik but which often seems to be more a thinly v...more

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Jul 24, 2011 Malvin rated it 3 of 5 stars

An intriguing title that fairly meets the challenge in predicting the state of the world and how China will rule as a hegemonic entity. The premise is that China will not evolve to what we currently acknowledge as a modern and democratic country. Potentially far from it, China will be greatly influenced by the fact that it is a civilisation state thoroughly obsessed with unity and with rooted values architected by Confucius. The "century of humiliation" due to the Western and Japanese occupation...more

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Dec 31, 2011 Troy Parfitt rated it 1 of 5 stars

Part Wish, Part Propaganda, Much Pish Posh

Martin Jacques’s When China Rules the World is well written, nicely packaged, and fails utterly in explaining why China is going to rule the world. But then, maybe we should it expect it to. After all, it’s not called Why China Will Rule the World, but with a title like the one it has, one can be forgiven for expecting a concrete explanation.

In this book, you’ll find academic prose, a massive select bibliography, 70 pages of notes, lovely maps and graph...more

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Jan 23, 2011 Alesa rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is absolutely brilliant. In a style that is both scholarly and readable, the author shows that China has already overtaken the West, and will continue to do so both economically and culturally. And we Americans are so parochial that we won't even know what hit us. He has eight main points that support his thesis.
1) China is not a nation as we perceive it, but rather a civilization, with an unbroken history of at least 3,000 years. So we shouldn't try to make it fit our political model...more This book is absolutely brilliant. In a style that is both scholarly and readable, the author shows that China has already overtaken the West, and will continue to do so both economically and culturally. And we Americans are so parochial that we won't even know what hit us. He has eight main points that support his thesis.
1) China is not a nation as we perceive it, but rather a civilization, with an unbroken history of at least 3,000 years. So we shouldn't try to make it fit our political models.
2) China will probably relate to the rest of East Asia as in its past, where other countries are in a tributary relationship, recognizing China's inherent superiority. It's won't try to colonize, in other words, or to remake nations in its own model. They'll just have to pay homage and admit Chinese hegemony.
3) The Chinese attitude toward race and ethnicity has always been that they're superior. They see this as cultural, historical, and also biological. Think about that one, all you red-neck Americans, when China holds our purse strings!
4) China operates on a continental-sized canvas. It's huge, geographically as well as in population. It has really diverse populations within it. So we should think of it as an entire continent, not just as a country.
5) The Chinese have always had a very powerful state. This reflects their Confucian history. Even in its Communist form, the state never shared power with anyone else (like a church or merchant class). The state is venerated above society,and they think this is as it should be.
6) Chinese modernity is different than ours because it's happening so FAST. So they embrace the new in a way that we can't even fathom, much like a child picking up how to use a Nintendo machine.
7) China will probably continue to be Communist, but in a Confucian way totally unlike the Soviet Union. We should stop judging them for this and just accept that maybe democracy isn't the path for everybody.
8) China will be both developed and developing for some time, because it will take at least 50 years for it to become fully industrialized. So it will be like a First World country in the big cities, and like a Third World country in the rural areas.

The author says that China will transform the world far more fundamentally than any other new global power in the last two centuries, and that they are the elephant in the room that nobody is willing to recognize. Yet.

Every American who says they're educated should read this book. And then start learning Mandarin.(less)

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Sep 18, 2011 Willy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: economy, society, china

I've always wanted to use the word 'epiphany'. To me, it sounds as cheerful as the event itself must be.
Anyway, I never got to it - largely due to not having had any...

Until this book.

I have rarely read a book which collects the fundamentals of a country, its people and beliefs like this one.
The popular Western question "will China develop into an image of ourselves?" is elaborately - albeit indirectly - discussed. 'Unlikely' is the inevitable answer after an excellent concluding chapter.

The fin...more

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Apr 03, 2013 Liam89 rated it 5 of 5 stars

A magnificent work of scholarship and literature. Essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the reality that between the beginning of what we might call the post 9/11 world and the present day, we in the West have been far too slow to recognise that the period of Western, and in particular American, dominance is coming to an end. The next century will be about a quite new phenomenon to those of us living in nation-states: the irresistible rise of the civilisation-state that is China.

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Oct 31, 2012 Dr. Amiruddin Alauddin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Currently China is the 2nd most powerful economic nation in the world. Combining the wealth of both China & the oversea Chinese, the possibilities are high that their total accumulated wealth had covertly surpass the USA. Thus it was to their personal interest that China once did advice America to be more prudent in handling the current economic crisis at states side.

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May 31, 2010 Mark Crilley rated it 3 of 5 stars

I've enjoyed much of this book because the topic interests me, but I must say the author seems to be viewing China through rose-tinted glasses. I'd like to read another book to balance this one out, one the delves more into the "dark underbelly" that surely exists behind China's amazing economic rise, and what insights it might give us to what China will be like in the future.

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Jan 12, 2010 Arden marked it as to-read

I listened to the author interviewed on NPR's On Point http://www.onpointradio.org/2010/01/c...
I knew that I would want to read this book. The author considers not just economics and business, but foresees a cultural shift from the West (particularly the US) being the dominant culture to China becoming the dominant culture worldwide.

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Jun 08, 2012 Altajoe rated it 2 of 5 stars

Too much time and ink spent on peripheral history. It appeared to me to be filling pages.

It leaves out the most critical aspect; to be the true global leader there must be the willingness to devote a large portion of time and money in altruistic pursuits around the world. There is nothing in this analysis to indicate that China will. It may climb to the highest rung of the ladder, but it won't make it over the top.

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Nov 29, 2010 Gary rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a fantastic book and an important contribution to the body of work regarding China's rise. In this book, Jacques introduces the concept of China as a "civilization-state", not merely a nation-state in the Westphalian model. The consequences of China's differences from the Western concept of modernity will mean significant (and often painful) changes are in store for the West, particularly the United States. Listening to this book, I was glad that I am studying Mandarin Chinese and that m...more

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Jun 03, 2012 Rob rated it 1 of 5 stars

Represents so much of what I dislike in popular non-fiction like Thomas Friedman's "The World is Flat." Over generalizing, uninformed, and myopic. The issue it discusses is a serious one, but it adds little to nothing of value and does a disservice to the layman looking to get informed.

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Jul 07, 2011 Garrett rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book offers an excellent view of China's place in the 21st Century. Not only does the offer give excellent reasons for China's economic rise, but he goes on to postulate how China may act in the world in a future where it is one of the most powerful nations on earth. Highly recommend for anyone interested in how China will act and what the world will change with a shift from a Western to Confucian perspective.

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About Martin Jacques

Martin Jacques is a British former magazine editor and academic. He was born and raised in Coventry. He was an undergraduate student at Manchester University, where he graduated with a first-class honours degree, and subsequently studied for a PhD at King's College, Cambridge.

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New Times: The Changing Face of Politics in the 1990s

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