The China Wave: Rise of a Civilizational State

In this slim and compelling treatise (the original of which topped the 2011 Shanghai Bookfair's List of the "most influential new books in China"), Weiwei, a professor of international relations at Fudan University and former interpreter for the late Communist leader Deng Xiaoping, presents his case for how the Chinese economic model is poised to surpass its Western counterparts. Crediting Xiaoping with being "the visionary architect of [China's] rise," Weiwei maintains that rather than a nation-state (such as those of Europe), China is "a country sui generis, a civilizational state, a new model%E2%80%A6which questions many of the Western assumptions about democracy, good governance and human rights." He points out that nation-states tend to allocate resources to military endeavors (as evidenced by the U.S.'s deployment of troops in the Middle East), whereas a civilizational state takes a philosophical approach to development that combines ancient roots with a modern sensibility, focusing instead on infrastructure improvement. If China should choose to adopt the Western model, he warns, it will soon follow the same downward spiral as the Soviet Union. The author admits that his work is as much a wake-up call to the West as it is to China, and this evenhanded and expertly translated exposition is worth heeding. (Apr.)