"After the Communist Revolution, Desmond Shum's grandfather was marked as belonging to a "black category" that included former landlords and rich peasants--meaning the Shums would be stigmatized and impoverished. As Desmond was growing up, he vowed his life would be different. Through hard work and sheer tenacity Shum earned an American college degree and returned to China to establish himself in business. There, he met his future wife, the highly...

An eye-opening investigation into China's Communist Party and its integral role in the country's rise as a global superpower and rival of the United States.

"After three decades of reform and opening up, China is closing its doors, clamping down on Western influence in the economy, media, and civil society. At the same time, President Xi Jinping has positioned himself as a champion of globalization, projecting Chinese power abroad and seeking to reshape the global order. Herein lies the paradox of modern China--the rise of a more insular, yet more ambitious China that will have a profound impact on both...

"The United States' approach to China since the Communist regime in Beijing began the period of reform in the 1980s was based on a promise that trade and engagement with America would result in a peaceful, democratic state. Forty years later the hope of producing a benign People's Republic of China failed. The Communist Party of China deceived the West into believing that its system and the Party-ruled People's Liberation Army posed no threat. These...

Ye Haiyan is labeled a trouble maker by the Chinese government. Someone who embarrasses the state, for example, with public protests involving the civil rights of sex workers. She travels to Hainan Province to protest a case in which sexual mistreatment of elementary-age school girls by their principal has gone unprosecuted.

"When Deng Xiaoping launched his economic reforms in the late 1970s, he vowed to build "socialism with Chinese characteristics." Three and half decades later, behind its rapid growth and glitzy façade, modernization under one-party rule has spawned a form of rapacious crony capitalism characterized by endemic corruption, an incipient kleptocracy, record income inequality, and high social tensions. This book traces the origin of China's crony capitalism...