China Horizon, The: Glory And Dream Of A Civilizational State

Pure China Boosterism. Basically, rah rah China, our superior civilization will prevail and lead the world. Informative as to how a loyal Chinese intellectual sees things, so it is worthwhile and interesting to learn that angle.

A book to read looking the history of the future and the disruptions and difficult times in the democratic estates. The dependence of China growing demand is the new power in this century.

Tis expert, insider's predictions about China are already coming true–and that's good news for the whole world.

The essence of good governance comes from the extent it acts in favor of the overwhelming majority of its population. A major reason the American Dream has lost allure over the past two decades is due to the fact that capital power dominates the government, and economic progress has stagnated/receded for most American families (Dot-Com crash, the Great Recession, COVID-19, 2021 inflation, inflation/offshoring).The American system of checks and balances can be seen as empowering a wide variety of political players to block action. Almost all Western countries today are indebted and have overspent themselves into significant debt because politicians vie with each other to attract votes by promising welfare or other benefits, thereby exhausting their national treasuries. Plato's great worry about democracy, that citizens would 'live from day to day, indulging the pleasure of the moment' has proved prescient. Meanwhile, long-term investment/maintenance is neglected. France and Italy haven't balanced their budgets in over 35 years, the U.S. in 20 years. The Western model has contracted five syndromes:1)Lacking the spirit of 'seeking truth from facts.' Most Western politicians are unwilling/unable to grasp reality and deal with it. To be politically correct, avoiding ideological taboos has become more important than real freedom of speech. 'Democracy' is defined simply as 'a multi-party system' and 'one person, one vote' - ignoring the fiascos that have been thus created.2)Lacking a meritocratic mechanism. The Western world suffers from a lack of competent leaders with strategic visions. Multi-party democracy has become increasingly more about showmanship than leadership, elections have degenerated into marketing, marketing into competing for money and P.R., for tricks and ruses, shows and images. Promises made by politicians are not meant to be honored - simply to present a show and win the next election. This tends to produce politicians capable of talking a lot but doing little.3)Lacking competence for good governance and accountability. Few, if any American politicians or business leaders have been held responsible for the Dot.com crash, the Great Recession, or the comparatively poor U.S. COVID-19 response. Decision-making driven by political expediency has turned American democracy into a byword for low efficiency and shirking responsibility.4)Lacking a comprehensive balancing system. Many Western democracies have become 'monetalkcracy.' This makes it difficult to take care of the overall interests of society.5)Lacking strategic planning. The Western political system lacks holistic vision and strategic planning, resulting in a vast array of myopic decisions and behaviors. Politicians choose the narrow interests of electoral victories over the greater, long-term good of their nations.These five syndromes amount to 'empty rhetoric leading nations astray.' A 2014 Gallup survey on the American people's confidence in Congress found only 4% 'high confident,' 3% 'fairly confident.' Western democracy has failed to keep pace with changing times - innovation is everywhere, except in democracy. Pew surveys in 2009 and 2012 found 30% and 29% levels of satisfaction in the U.S.The presumption of 'rights are absolute' is another problem - overinflated individual rights, combined with a decline in individual responsibility.

Expanding on his views in the previous volume of his trilogy (‘The China Wave, 2012 World Century Publishing) Zhang presses on the theme that the Western democratic model is not only untenable for China, it is untenable even for the West. There are many areas in which one might debate at length, but this is not the kind of communist propaganda we had seen in the Cold War years. Zhang is an articulate intellectual and his studies are deep.In a debate with Francis Fukuyama, Zhang made the point that the American democratic model may produce a president worse than Bush. This alone may prompt a few Americans to read Zhang. Zhang says that under capitalism American political power lacks autonomy and neutrality. “moneytalkracy’ he says leads to the expansion of interest groups and the diminishing of the individual.Ironically, the Chinese system has greater, and more importantly, public, checks and balances than the American one. The consequences are plain. Zhang cites innumerable examples throughout the book. If one pays US$500-1000 a month for medical insurance, she can assume that she will get prompt hospital care, and if she needs a transfusion in the night he need not pay for it, or that if she delivers a baby in hospital she would not have to pay for a couple of nights’ stay. Zhang says that is correct – but only in China; one cannot get that in the USA.Zhang also points out the greater and more sustaining pension schemes in China compared to that in America. Citing statistics, Zhang points out that ‘in 2012 the murder rate in China was 0.8 per 100,000, lower than in Japan and Switzerland. In comparison, the US had a murder rate of 50 per 100,000 people, or 60 times that of China’.One of the characteristics that underlined the weakness of the American model is the lack of a spirit of ‘seeking truth from facts’. Once again, in the face of daily presidential tweets, many Americans may be interested to read more from Zhang. He predicts a new world order of socialism with Chinese characteristics. With globalisation in decline and Trump in power, Zhang may prove prescient yet again.

Zhang Weiwei gehört zu den wichtigsten Politologen Chinas. Seine Trilogie zu Chinas Aufstieg wurde von 1 Million Chinesen gelesen. Auch von Xi Jinping. Wer China verstehen will, liest Zhang.

The final part of Fudan Professor Zhang Weiwei's China trilogy succeeds in living up to the expectations of the previous entrant (The China Wave, the first, The China Ripple, is not available in English).Professor Zhang's book seeks to accomplish the following; define a Civilizational State, examine the China Model, consider the applicability of the Western Model to non-Western countries, and compare and contrast the American Dream with the Chinese Dream.In defining a Civilizational State, the analogy Professor Zhang had previously used in the China Wave, namely the hypothesis of the Roman Empire continuing to the present day, he now acknowledges falls short in describing China's Civilizational State. Rather, Professor Zhang defines it as the amalgamation of hundreds of different states into one, and possessing the four supers and four uniques; super-large population, super-vast territory, super-long traditions, super-rich culture, unique language, unique politics, unique society and a unique economy. In some ways, this is a work on Chinese Exceptionalism, although Professor Zhang uses no such term.Professor Zhang puts forward a new political discourse, again debunking the End of History thesis, of which he has been a strong critic. Zhang offers many examples of when various countries have tried to emulate and copy the Western model, this has led to either political fallout, political stagnation, and/or a sharp deterioration in quality of life. Examples of this offered are the Arab Spring and subsequent Arab Winter, and the various "Colour Revolutions" notably Ukraine, Georgia, and Kyrgyzstan.Central to Professor Zhang's thesis is that the Western Model is simply inappropriate to China, and contrary to popular belief, China has already tried the Western Model following the 1911 Revolution, only to see the country fragment into what is now known as the Warlord era.China, Zhang contends, is better suited to be governed by a party that represents universal interests and is able to focus on the long term, rather than be governed by multiple parties beholden to special interests.In this respect, Professor Zhang offers a critique of the shortfalls of the American Dream, quoting Economist Joseph Stiglitz that the US Government has become "Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%." Among the insights offered are the fact that the US government has been highjacked by special interests, to the point that there are now 20 lobbyists for every member of Congress, and that very little in the increase of living standards has been felt by America's middle class.To contrast this with the Chinese Dream, Professor Zhang examines how China has created the world's largest middle class, and how the benchmark of success, originally a bicycle and a wristwatch, is now a house and a car.Also contained is a firm critique of the Eurocentric view of history, and how China was viewed by Europe as a source of emulation, and China's cultural influence on Europe's Renaissance.Zhang Weiwei's concluding chapter of the China Trilogy is not just a work for China watchers and would be Sinologists such as myself, but for any student of politics or international relations. Zhang Weiwei has provided important insights into the political discourse, insights that are sadly overlooked and are deserving of special attention, and this book explores them in an eloquent and readable manner.In short, a book that truly lives up to expectations, and should be read by all.