Description

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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.

About the Author

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David Daokui Li, PhD, is a professor of economics, director of the Academic Center for Chinese Economic Practice and Thinking (ACCEPT), and the founding dean of Schwarzman College at Tsinghua University. He currently resides in Beijing, China.

Praise For…

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Given his status as an insider, readers might expect a recitation of CCP talking points. But this thought-provoking book is far more nuanced, honest and at times critical of China’s reality.
— James Kynge - Financial Times

David Daokui Li is a world-leading scholar who deeply understands China and the West and who shares his understanding with great wisdom, wit, and clarity. China’s World View should be read and discussed around the world. Its wise approach points the way to a more peaceful, prosperous, and harmonious world.

— Jeffrey D. Sachs, professor at Columbia University and president of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network

David Daokui Li’s volume gives the Western reader important insight into the Chinese world view. That world view is immensely important separate from whether it is valid or attractive. So Li’s book is worthy of serious consideration by anyone who cares about the future of the world’s system.
— Lawrence H. Summers, 71st secretary of the Treasury of the United States and president emeritus of Harvard University

Having warned repeatedly that the United States and China are in the early phase of Cold War II, I read David Daokui Li’s new book with interest and admiration.… As a candid insider’s introduction to the way the People’s Republic sees itself and the world, Li’s book is a valuable challenge to today’s hawkish consensus.
— Niall Ferguson, Milbank Family Senior Fellow, the Hoover Institution, Stanford University

In China’s World View, David Daokui Li, one of China’s most brilliant economists, delves deep into China’s approach to governance, shedding light on its historical and sociocultural roots.… [T]his riveting account is an indispensable guide for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of China’s trajectory in the global order.

— Mark Leonard, cofounder and director of the European Council on Foreign Relations

A masterful and richly textured portrait of China’s position in the world. At a time when the world’s two largest economies seem set on an inevitable and mutually harmful collision course, this excellent book provides a much-needed dose of reason and rationality that will help us all better understand China’s rise, its motivations, and why a strong and stable China might be in the world’s best interest.
— Eswar Prasad, professor at Cornell University, Senior Fellow at Brookings Institution, and author of The Future of Money

The biggest development of our time is the reemergence of China. Paradoxically, the biggest misunderstanding of our time, especially in the West, is about the reemergence of China. This huge misunderstanding must be dispelled. David Daokui Li’s book, China’s World View, could not be more timely.… It’s a must-read for all the leaders of the world, both in the public and private sectors.

— Kishore Mahbubani, Distinguished Fellow at the Asia Research Institute of NUS and author of Has China Won?: The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy