Chronicle of a death foretold
Why China must adapt or die
China’s Future. By David Shambaugh. Polity; 195 pages; $19.95 and £14.99.
EVERY few years a high-profile commentator gains fame and sometimes shame by predicting the imminent disintegration of the Chinese Communist Party. In 1989 many China-watchers disagreed only on whether it would take weeks or months for the Communist Party to crumble after it ordered government troops—the People’s Liberation Army—to crush the people’s liberation. In 2001 Gordon Chang wrote a book, “The Coming Collapse of China”, in which he predicted that a financial crisis would fell the regime within a decade.
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline "Chronicle of a death foretold"
From the March 26th 2016 edition
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