Bookplanet: on China

From the other side of the wall
Review of: Chinese Nationalism in the Global Era by Christopher R Hughes; China Shakes the World: The Rise of a Hungry Nation by James Kynge; The Great Wall: China Against the World, 1000BC-AD2000 by Julia Lovell; The Long March by Sun Shuyun
By Martin Jacques (from the good old Guardian)

The growing importance of China is ill-served by the enormous ignorance that characterises attitudes towards it. Apart from a recognition that it is undergoing a huge transformation, and that it is very large and very old, opinions about China move little beyond Mao, communism, democracy, human rights and Tiananmen Square. As a result we are poorly equipped to cope with the world that we are entering. I hope the growing number of books being published on China will help to alleviate this burden of ignorance. Together these four books paint a picture of China that is diverse, rich and rewarding.

A striking feature of all the books, bar Sun Shuyun's Long March, is the fact that at their heart lies China's relationship with the outside world. The future impact of China on our lives is a question that confronts us now and will be even more important for subsequent generations. Christopher Hughes, in an unapologetically academic study, investigates the relationship between Chinese domestic and foreign policy, in the course of which he rejects the idea, beloved of much business-related writing, that Chinese foreign policy will follow its economic interests. James Kynge tries to show the myriad ways in which China's economic rise is making itself felt around the world, using its impact on Germany, Italy and the US as his examples. Finally, in a fascinating account of Chinese history, Julia Lovell tells China's story in terms of its relations with its "barbarian" neighbours to the north, the Manchus and the Mongols.

Sun's book on the Long March is rather different. This is a beautifully told story of one of the great legends of modern China. Besieged by the forces of Chiang Kai Shek, the Red Armies under the leadership of the fledgling Communist party sought to escape destruction by embarking on an extraordinary journey of 13,000km lasting two years. The story has become heavily romanticised with the passage of time, but by any standards it is an epic tale.On the 70th anniversary of the beginning of the march Sun retraced its steps mainly by train and bus. It makes compelling reading. She is an engaging writer with an excellent eye for detail, while displaying immense compassion for her subjects, the veterans of the Long March, who are now in their 80s and 90s. Educated in China, she is immersed in the official mythology that surrounds the march, but she never allows this to jaundice her view. Two hundred thousand embarked on the journey; only 40,000 were to survive, yet their heroism changed the course of Chinese history.

Kynge's book could hardly be more different. It belongs to the "rise of China" genre. Resident in China for many years, latterly as bureau chief for the Financial Times, he is admirably knowledgeable about the subject and the country. He tells the story of China's rise with sympathy and insight. He argues that this rise is akin to that of the US in the late 19th century, except on a far greater scale and with much greater speed.

Kynge breaks rank with the consensus that China's rise will, give or take the odd bump, be quietly absorbed into the existing world order, arguing that its impact will be so profound that it is likely to persuade the developed world to bolt the doors to trade, contrary to what it has preached for so long to the developing world.

Hughes's book is of a different character. He traces the evolution of Chinese foreign policy since the beginning of economic reform in 1978. It is written in an academic style by an international relations scholar and is therefore not an easy book to read, but gives an interesting insight into the foreign policy debates in Beijing, especially over the past decade.

Hughes points out the continuing importance of Deng Xiaoping's thinking in these debates. He traces the growth of nationalism and argues that this has become a central plank of the regime's legitimacy. In a balanced discussion Hughes remains somewhat pessimistic about the ability of China to be sufficiently pragmatic about its interests and sees its unbending attitude towards Taiwan as symptomatic of future policy.

The most surprising book is Lovell's. From its title, one expects a history of the Great Wall, and in that she does not disappoint. But she delivers much, much more. In telling the history of China through the prism of the wall, her focus is China's relations with its northern neighbours. Lovell's book is a very good read. She tells an engaging story and is impressively abreast of her subject, although she sometimes gets carried away with hyperbole and melodrama. She points out that, contrary to conventional wisdom, the Great Wall is in fact not one but many walls that have been constructed in different places over a long period.

Lovell paints a picture of a conflict lasting thousands of years between a stable, settled, agrarian China and nomadic peoples to its north. The Chinese regarded themselves as immensely superior to those whom they saw as at best barbarians. That said, it is clear that in military matters the Mongols and the Manchus gave at least as good as they got. Lovell describes this Chinese hubris and arrogance excellently and accords it a central position in what is, notwithstanding the title, essentially a history of China.