The Coming Collapse of China

We Americans view the world with wide-eyed innocence. We see ourselves as no threat to anyone. We feel that we are little threat to the ideologies of others. That explains why we think other nations are just as harmless. Gordon Chang is about to startle everyone. A superb writer, Mr. Chang takes you on a high-speed ride just as exciting as a mystery thriller. The problem is that this is reality - dangerous reality. You will put "The Coming Collapse of China" down only to check Chang's facts. You may disagree with Chang and that will make him happy; At the very least, you will have been challenged and you will have learned. If you happen to disagree and to be right, Chang will be giddy with joy. Neither of these things is likely. China has a dark cloud over it and you will feel the storm.

A lot of reviews make a big deal over the copyright date, to which I would reply - it’s irrelevant. Sure, the book is framed around China’s imminent joining the WTO, but the truth spoken is timeless. The clever writing makes it entertaining. I read every page.

I enjoyed the book. It is well written and shows both knowledge of and understanding of China, its government, and its people. Oddly, I personally often felt that China's weaknesses in its government could easily be applied to the USA as well. Darnell Clevenger, author of The Shootings at Echo Creek High

Gordon Chang is an American who has lived in China. He knows how their government works and their leaders think.

The book outlined several severe problems in the PRC, chief of them corruption. Here is the thing which many people do not realize. This book over 19 years ago HELPED the PRC fix several severe deficiencies in its governance structure. That is right, it actually was one of the references used as a reboot as to avoid catastrophic failure. I have been in PRC many times, but while Chang did get some real failings underlined, he failed to appreciate how quickly PRC ministries used his critique to their own self goverance fix it campaigns. China has many incogruencies, and failings, but it also has an extremely talented civil service sector. I.e. never underestimate them. While one can castigate China for its own divergences from perceived favored norms, one will end up on the end of the stick every time if one assumes venality is the only characteristic of the Chinese government. Adaptability is high there and so Chang's book had many unanticipated consequences

Have not really gotten into the book yet, just received it. Briefly, it is a situation that is of interest to me in our global interchange. Condition of the book is very satisfactory, after realizing that another (sometimes) occupant of my household had signed for it, opened the package and put it on my bookshelf w/o notifying me. So, I assumed it had not arrived and commented to the bookstore & Amazon. Have issued full payment to the bookstore as they kindly refunded my payment. Way to go River City Bookstores & Amazon. Excellent customer care.

I bought this in 2020 April. Consider this is 2001 book. Yes 2001. at that time, China was entering a freeway of growth. The author had a good insight to China’s systemic problem and predictions. Yet too ahead of its time. Nevertheless, now what he had predicted is coming true.

This is an excellent look at China -- its potential and its problems. There's one big problem with the book. It's out of date by one president. China should have collapsed by now. But … The book is excellent -- it makes sense and it's quite readable. So what if the author was off on his timing. I'm off to read more than a newspaper's worth about Xi; then we'll see how Chang's guidance applies.

2019年いよいよ米中熱戦へと進む中、日本が採るべき道を示唆してくれるチャイナ関係必読の書

This is an excellent book, well written and easily read by a scholar who I accept as being an expert in modern China, with an obviously good grounding in Sinology, especially, the pertinent history of China over the millennia. Although written in 2001, many of the underlying causes of the coming collapse of china are integral parts of any Omnipotent Bureaucratic System, because all decision making in such states, are made for purely political reasons, and most of their remedies to any problem are counter-productive. Chang provides plenty of examples of these 'suffocating binds of red tape, corruption and intrigue', that are never out of date in any Soviet Styled economy and political organization, both of which describe China well.. The enigma for the current Chinese leadership, is how to liberate the agents of production,and maintain complete bureaucratic control over them at the same time. although I am only half way through the book, it looks as though even in 2018, that China will probably choose to be gored by the wrong horn of the dilemma, choosing Command and Control over Liberty and Justice for all.

Interesting book

This book was published 20 YEARS AGO!!. Worst part about it .. NOT A SINGLE PREMISE !! NOT ONE! has turned out the way the author predicted. I bought this book because it was advertised everytime DR. GORDON CHANG was interviewed on CNN or FOX NEWS as a CHINA EXPERT... thinking it was a recent publication.. DONT BUY IT unless you enjoy reading HOW WRONG A CHINA EXPERT can get SO MANY THINGS WRONG in 285 pages.

This book was written in 2002, and it warned us about the perilous trajectory of communist China. Gordon Chang continues to warn us to this day, of the dangers posed by the rigidity of the Communist regime running China. He details Chinese history, and how its many provinces have traditionally been ill at ease with each other. The authoritarian regime may superficially appear to have brought peace and unification, but underneath it all, there continues to be unrest and strife. The discord of trying to manage a capitalist-style economy, with a rigid political system is a recipe for disaster. China is a suppressive regime, the antithesis of the freedoms enjoyed in the West. “We should not be surprised. On the surface the problems of the People’s Republic appear to be economic. Yet China has all the resources it needs. The underlying problem is the political system, which will not permit the implementation of even the obvious solutions these days. In this period of political transition, the paralysis will become even more apparent. So, the only thing that can save China now is political reform. Such reform can stem the tide of corruption, which now threatens to engulf the regime, re-ignite stalled economic reforms, and result in a more open society, which will relieve many of the pressures building up on the lowest rungs of the social order.” These words, written by Chang at the turn of the new millennium, are poignant and were unheeded by globalists for two decades. They saw only the positive advantages associated with allowing China into the World Trade Organisation. They saw cheap labour and financial gains for themselves. In the rush to grow their GDP, they ignored many of Chang’s warnings, and the world is now beginning to wake up to the realities. China is not playing by the rules of fairness. It does not reciprocate on trade, steals intellectual property, lacks transparency and has an appalling history on Human Rights. While the globalist West outsourced its manufacturing to China, the Covid-19 pandemic has shown us just how corrupt the Communist regime really is. For instance, they have threatened nations like Australia, have coerced the WHO to act as their PR arm, and have put enormous pressure on the European Union to not publish their independent report. They have leveraged the fact that the West depends on their manufacturing of essential goods, such as pharmaceuticals, by threatening to withhold vital medicines. Their stance is very much a message to ‘Shut Up and Obey’. To this day, they have denied access to independent investigators and embarked on a massive disinformation campaign to dissimulate their nefarious activities. This is not a country fit to sit alongside the more civilised countries in the West. The West needs to wakeup to this, otherwise it is ‘Goodbye Freedom’.