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| China Shakes the World: A Titan's Rise and Troubled Future -- and the Challenge for America | 
| Author: James Kynge
Publisher: Mariner Books
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy Used: $5.98
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Avg. Customer Rating:  43 reviews
Sales Rank: 18982
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.8
ISBN: 0618919066
Dewey Decimal Number: 330.951
EAN: 9780618919062
ASIN: 0618919066
Publication Date: October 11, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 A Rare Book that Talks about The Good and the Bad December 4, 2006
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
A great many books have been published in recent years about how China is going to take over the world by simple numbers, by keeping wages low, by the education of untold numbers of engineers, etc. All this is true. But those books do a disservice when they fail to point out the problems that China faces.
It's clear that in some aspects China is still on a rapid rise upward in terms of foreign earning, production and also areas like energy consumption, the increasing availability of automobiles, etc. And these aspects are covered in the first half of the book.
The second half talks more about the darker aspects. Probably the biggest problem is that the Chinese government was designed around the Communist principles of state control, which doesn't work too well in a fast moving business climate. Along with this are problems in the environmental area, a banking system that is strange, and rampant corruption at all levels of government from the lowest up to quite high.
Not mentioned in this book is the Muslim problem. While estimates vary from 20 to 100 million muslims in China, no one really seems to know. And there have been troubles between the Muslims and the communists. It seems unlikely that the 'stans to the west of China will not see an opportunity to continue their activities into China.
Remember two that China had too revolutions in the twentieth century. What's the likelihood of another?
It won the Financial Times 2006 Business Book of the Year for a reason November 12, 2006
57 out of 58 found this review helpful
In 2005, the Financial Times instigated its Business Book of the Year award. Last year's winner was Thomas Friedman's "The World Is Flat", which is still in the best sellers lists 16 months after its release (and deservedly so). This year, James Kynge (in a prior life a reporter at the Financial Times) wins the award with this book.
In "China Shakes the World: A Titan's Rise and Troubled Future--and the Challege for America" (270 pages), Kynge spends the first part of the book bringing us a vivid picture of the awakening economic giant that China is becoming, and things will only get more vivid from here on. Interesting tidbits that the author brings us include that the architecture of the once-historic (and now revitalized) city of Chongqing is patterned after Chicago, itself once the fastest growing city; or that suicides among young rural women in China rank as one of its greatest social ills (500 per day, and 56 percent of the world's femal suicides occur in China). After going into a thorough anaylsis of the Italian textile industry's problems, Kynge makes the dry observation that "the simple, unpalatable truth is that in many areas of manufacturing, European companies cannot compete in the long run, no matter what countermeasures they or the EU may take".
As for China's "technology gap", Kynge observes that "the potent lure of the 1.3 billion person market, no matter how illusory it may be, has helped China to leapfrog some of the technology barriers that had stymied several of the Southeast Asian 'tiger' economies in the 80s and 90s". In the second part of the book, the author exposes some of the problems China faces. Corruption exists at every level, the gray and black economies play a large role in everyday life, and these factors have resulted in the "collapse of social trust". In the final chapter, Kynge has a lot to say about the "waichi" (friendship) concept in China (hint: it's not what ours is).
In all, this book is outstanding from beginning to end, and absolutely worth buying. Anything we can do to understand the challenge tha China presents is recommended, and this book certainly contributes to the debate.
 Interesting Information November 10, 2006
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Over the past 28 years the Chinese economy grew at 9.5%/year, and lifted 400+ million out of poverty. Kynge provides some insight on how this occurred, and remaining barriers.
An impressive example of Chinese productivity is provided by the story of how nearly 1,000 Chinese workers came to the Ruhr to disassemble a German steel plant that had just shut down and been bought - the Chinese stunned the local population by working 12 hours/day, 7 days/week (local workers had been agitating for a 35 hour week). Chinese workers also labored high in the air without standard safety measures. The project was finished in one year - two years faster than the Germans had estimated.
Deng Xiaoping, the post-Mao de facto leader of China began the transition to capitalism by allowing work groups (could not be families) to keep their farm output - this was immediately subverted into individual family plots, and the grain harvest rose from 335 million tons ('78) to 448 ('84). Similarly, small businesses were also allowed to retain their profits. (Part of the rationale for freeing up businesses was to offer relief for those Mao had sent into the fields during the Cultural Revolution who were then returning to cities and without jobs.) The average Chinese earned 7.5% of western Europeans in '75 - by 2000 it was up to about 20%.
Women are poorly treated in China - about 500 commit suicide/day (mostly in the rural areas), the highest rate in the world. One of Mao's many negative legacies was scorning the notion that land scarcity should constrain population growth - thus, population shot up from 583 million ('53 census) to 1.4 billion today. Even at an economic growth rate of 9-10%, the economy falls several million short of the 24 million new jobs required each year - thus, the government is under great pressure to continue exports as a means of sustaining growth.
Chinese people save an average 40% of income. Banks are reluctant to recall loans, stating they are wary of creating a chain reaction that would also bring down layers of suppliers; regardless, they are awash in money. Easy lending has helped created chronic oversupply, diversification, and exports.
Yiwu is the home to the world's largest wholesale market - about 34,000 stallholders offering 320,000 products, spread over 3,700 acres and prowled by about 5,000 foreign buyers.
Kynge visited an Italian clothes-making city to assess its experience with Chinese competition. In the beginning the Chinese impacted merely by immigrating and providing cheap labor. Then came instances of these immigrants starting local factories in competition, while others encouraged outsourcing to China. These small beginnings also required knowledge transfer to assure quality, and the Italians found themselves with less and less to do. Alternatively, companies trying to sell large quantities in China are likely to be required to set up production within China and transfer a good deal of technology and knowledge.
Sixteen of the world's 20 most polluted cities, per the World Bank, are in China.
Since '98 China has privatized almost all urban housing, laid off over 25 million from state companies and allowed them to cease providing medical care for those remaining, as well as education for their children.
Bottom Line: China is rapidly becoming a global force.
Setting the China scene beautifully, BUT... November 2, 2006
13 out of 14 found this review helpful
First, I congratulate James Kynge on winning the FT/Goldman Sachs Business Book Award of the Year 2006. Among the five short-listed titles, China business in undoubtedly the most important topic and Kynge has addressed it in a beautiful way. Beautiful in a sense that even the general reader will find the book entertaining because of the way the author weaves the stories in the process of presenting China's impact on the world.
Given the sophisticated nature of this topic, Kynge deserves a five-star rating for beautifully setting the China scene for the 21st century.
But, like other practising business people who are involved in doing business in China, I feel that the task of dealing with the China challenge remains hugely difficult because Kynge did not attempt to offer any advice on how to think as well as what to do in order to succeed in China.
Recently, I also bought a copy of Dr Wei Wang' book The China Executive: Marrying Western and Chinese Strengths to Generate Profitability from Your Investment in China, which is exactly what I have been looking for to complement China Shakes the World.
Having revealed the nature of the China challenge, The China Executive provides a roadmap to success in China. Packed with pictures, examples and above all wisdom, the book offers huge practical value.
At the moment, I am guided by the book to turn around some of my company's poorly-performed businesses in China.
In short, to understand the business implications of China in the age of globalisation, read China Shakes the World; to learn how to do business with China, read The China Executive.
the best general outline on china available October 30, 2006
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I have been going to and living in China for the last 26 years of my life. James Kynge's book, "China Shakes the World," is by far the clearest introduction to and explanation of the economic, political and social transformation -- with all the incumbent challenges -- occurring in China at the present time. This book should be read not only by businessmen, but also by anyone involved in China policy and anyone interested in China. It is accessible and, more important, makes complicated things understandable. It is subtle and non-ideological; and it is fair. I highly recommend it.
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