The untold story of how restrictive policies are preventing China from becoming the world's largest economy
Dexter Roberts is a writer, speaker, and analyst on China economics, business and politics. Previously he served as reporter and China bureau chief for Bloomberg Businessweek and was based in Beijing for more than two decades. He has interviewed numerous Chinese and foreign company CEOs, as well as senior government officials, and has reported from all of China's provinces and regions including Tibet and Xinjiang, as well as Hong Kong, Taiwan, Mongolia and North Korea.
"A gimlet-eyed look at an economic miracle that may not be so
miraculous after all." --Kirkus Reviews "...A clearheaded and
persuasive counter-narrative to the notion that the Chinese
economic model is set to take over the world. Readers looking for
an informed and nuanced perspective on modern China will find it
here." --Publishers Weekly "Roberts has given a well-sourced,
thoughtfully reasoned, and cogently-written narrative of the
largest migration in human history . . . . [He] helps us understand
why this could be an even more disruptive tipping point moment not
only for China, but the global economy."
--Orville Schell, Arthur Ross Director, Center on US-China
Relations and co-author of Wealth and Power: China's Long March to
the 21st Century "Dexter Roberts gives a sophisticated and readable
take of China's triumphs and crises. He introduces us to global
CEOs and takes us on tours of China's sprawling factory floors, but
is most at home in the China's left-behind countryside. There,
Roberts' decades-long contact with farmers and ex-factory workers
shows systemic problems that could prevent China from becoming a
wealthy country. A first-hand witness to China's transformation
over the past quarter century, Roberts credibly challenges the myth
of China's inevitable rise and global dominance."
--Ian Johnson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Beijing-based
correspondent "Ever bought a made-in-China handbag at Walmart and
wondered who made it? It's possibly someone whose experience is
similar to the people Dexter Roberts writes about so vividly in
this smart and compelling book, workers who struggle to make a
living and face deep discrimination in China's cities. A potent mix
of personal stories and deft analysis, The Myth of Chinese
Capitalism takes a hard look at China's migrants and rural people -
together one-half the country's population - who fueled their
country's manufacturing boom, but for whom the China dream remains
elusive."
--Mei Fong, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of One
Child: The Story of China's Most Radical Experiment
"Anybody doing business in China should read this book . . . . By
taking us from impoverished villages to factory floors and into the
lives of unsettled migrant workers and overwrought bureaucrats who
struggle to meet the goals of Party leaders, Roberts lays out why
the assumption of an ever-larger China market is uncertain, with
implications for multinationals everywhere."
--James McGregor, author of One Billion Customers: Lessons From the
Front Lines of Doing Business in China
"There's an enormous gap between how 'China's rise' looks from a
distance, and how its realities affect the hundreds of millions of
poor and rural Chinese people still looking for a better life.
Dexter Roberts has reported on these realities for decades, and he
does a wonderful job of combining vivid personal stories with
provocative larger points about China's fate. Anyone who hopes to
understand China's strengths and vulnerabilities will want to read
this book."
--James Fallows, national correspondent for The Atlantic and author
of China Airborne "In this vivid, provocative account, Dexter
Roberts leaves the glittering cities that attract too much of the
world's attention, and tells the story of China's other half - the
farmers and migrants who may never reach the mythic goal of
middle-class life. Deeply fluent in China's economy and culture,
Roberts challenges our assumptions about China's path and delivers
a vital warning about risks ahead."
--Evan Osnos, author of Age of Ambition, winner of the 2014
National Book Award "Have you ever looked at the miraculous urban
landscapes of today's China--the Shanghai skyline, the Shenzhen
roadways--and wondered what lies beneath? In The Myth of Chinese
Capitalism, Dexter Roberts investigates the roots of China's boom,
tracking how rural institutions, communities, and people have been
sacrificed for the sake of cities. This book is a welcome reminder
of the more than half a billion citizens who make their homes in
the Chinese countryside."
--Peter Hessler, author and contributor to the New Yorker
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