Books
Teach Yourself: Modern China
Michael Lynch, Hodder Headline, 195 pages, RRP £9.99.
Modern China is a society formed in the crucible of violent internal turmoil and brutal occupation, says Michael Lynch in Modern China from the popular Teach Yourself series. From the shattering of Chinese isolation during the mid-nineteenth century Opium Wars to the internecine civil war and upheaval of the Cultural Revolution, Chinese society has been subject to the some of the most rapid and savage transformations ever experienced. However, the premise on which all political authority has and continues to rest remains unchanged: the brutal suppression of opposition.
Nonetheless, over the last twenty years China has experienced a rapid industrialisation and economic boom at a rate unmatched in history. This has resulted in an incredible dichotomy between China's current explosive economic development and its stagnant political system. Will mainland China follow the example of Taiwan towards gradual political liberalisation, or will it pursue its own unique path to become the next global super-power. Indeed, given China's current economic success, the growing urban middle-class appears largely content with the political system in place.
To understand the relationship between China and occupied Tibet it is first necessary to understand China's attitudes towards itself, its people and the rest of the world. Modern China only dedicates one chapter to Tibet. However, it is the perspective it gives around the Tibet situation that makes this book valuable. Indeed, should a free Tibet ever become possible, it is more likely to occur as a result of internal rather than external pressure on the Chinese political system.
Lynch provides a fascinating account of modern China that both amazes and sometimes horrifies the reader. At a time when China is becoming ever-more assertive on the world stage, this book provides a short but rich introduction to the country. The narrative is rather interrupted by the bite-sized style common to the Teach Yourself series, but it nonetheless remains an exceptionally interesting and well formed book.
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