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
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Avg. Customer Rating:  39 reviews
Sales Rank: 5511
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
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Product Description
"Let China sleep, for when she wakes, she will shake the world." Napoleon's words seem eerily prescient today, as the shock waves from China's awakening reverberate around the globe. Award-winning journalist James Kynge takes measure of the tremors made as China's ravenous hunger for jobs, raw materials, energy, and food ? and its export of goods, workers, and investments ? drastically reshapes world trade and politics. Through dramatic stories of the people who are driving China's transformation ? entrepreneurs and visionaries, factory workers and store clerks ? Kynge describes the breakneck rise of China, the extraordinary problems the country now faces, and the consequences of both.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 34 more reviews...
 Good perspective on China in relation to the world May 27, 2008
Writing this in 2008, May, I have to say that I enjoyed the book, it left me with an idea of China's position in the world, but also on how few I know about such a great and big country. It states facts, and very little opinions, and some of the facts are individual stories from which you have to draw your own conclusions.
Anyway, as a big country, I finish the book feeling the need to read and know way more about China, geography, history, different peoples; but if books sizes relate to the country size and history, we may talk thousands of pages!
The book suffer the couple of years since the edition, and one misses more actual stories and references to recent news.
Interesting discussion of the opportunities and challenges facing China's development May 11, 2008
James Kynge, in his book China Shakes the World, states that a key question is whether or not the Western world will be able to "accommodate the manifestations of extreme strengths and profound weaknesses that are emanating from China." This 2006 Financial Times Business Book of the Year is an interesting and informative read. It provides snapshots of some of the effects that China's economic development has had around the world.
Throughout his book Kynge seeks to capture the impact of China's rise by examining its effect on a variety industries in places such as Dortmund, Germany; Prato, Italy; and Rockford, Illinois. He discusses the global evolution of Chinese companies from steel production to high fashion.
In addition to detailing the success stories of industries and rags-to-riches entrepreneurs, Kynge also examines a number of challenges that may impede China's future development. One of these challenges is the cutthroat domestic competition in manufacturing and the piracy associated with it. Kynge also highlights a number of the stark environmental problems facing China as a result of its rapid industrialization. On the whole, China Shakes the World provides a balanced account of many of China's strengths and weaknesses.
Good high-level look at current topics in China April 7, 2008
In preparation for a business trip to China, the first book I read was China Shakes the World by James Kynge. Mr. Kynge is a journalist with over twenty years of experience in Asia. The book is an easy read covering a number of current topics: Piracy, Environmental Concerns, Technology, Communism and the China/U.S. Relationship. The book offers a balanced look at China showing both the opportunity and challenges the country faces. No conclusions are drawn about the future, but the book is a good high-level look across the many facets of China.
 Insightful Description March 31, 2008
John Kynge provides an easy to read and interesting narrative of China's industrial growth and its impact on the people of China and the world. I read half the book in one sitting and couldn't wait to finish it. Many friends have asked to read it and it is now making the circuit. His ability to speak the language and 20 years of life in China provide much more than an academic primer.
well delivered analysis that avoids taking a side March 30, 2008
China has emerged as a new economic superpower. This book, written by the Financial Times' foreign correspondent to China, attempts to make sense of what it means for the rest of us.
What I like about this book is how it takes a simple step-by-step approach to outline the pros and cons of the situation. A lot of our political commentary these days seems to focus on the costs of China. Sometimes there are polly-anna visions of China that speak to its capacity to be a huge market for the exports of other countries.
Kynge does not settle to merely re-hash the first set of issues (the cons). Nor does he pass by the second perception. He certainly takes on the idea that China's huge market can be easily conquered.
I guess it is true that many Americans are better off because of China's presence in the world. Certainly, the advocates of globalization would support that idea. Kynge spends some time piecing that out -- not just how China provides low-cost goods that supply Wal-Marts, but also in the benefit any mortgage borrower experiences because of China's demand to buy US Treasuries.
Kynge has plenty of stories that speak to the price of working through China. He visits some of the regions that have cycled through one generation of industrialization, CP-style, and now are falling apart. There is a revealing story about the challenges to local business owners in Northern China, who lost claims to oil wells in a case of local government corruption.
There is less about history here and more that reflects an ability to travel widely and impute themes from current events. Yes, he does talk a bit about the Opium Wars, but that is in the context of a current issue -- the ongoing challenge for any country to get access to China's consumers.
China has become the world's back shop for manufacturing. It has also managed to control the portion of our economy with the lowest margins. Kynge shows how great urban areas have been planned to transform the lives of rural Chinese as they move to jobs in cities. He also shows the progress that remains to be made -- the lack of brands, the absence of environmental stewardship, violations to human rights, and ongoing social controls.
I wish he had talked a bit more about demography. From what I understand, the one child policy has impacted the array of men in the country in ways that were never expected and that have a lot of consequences for social order. He also avoids the issue of religious freedom, be it Tibet or Falun Gong. That's fine, of course. It's a big country. This is a good book and prescient as the days approach to the 2008 Olympics.
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