China shakes the world: The rise of a hungry nation

We have long been looking for a book on the new China, the nation that in 25 years has changed beyond all recognition, becoming an industrial powerhouse for the world. James Kynge, China Bureau Chief of the Financial Times since 1998, shows not only the extraordinary rise of the Chinese economy, but what the future holds as China begins to influence the world. This is the book for anyone who wants to understand this astonishing turn-round. On the eve of the British industrial revolution some 230 years ago, China accounted for one third of the global economy. In 1979, after 30 years of Communism, its economy contributed only two per cent to global GDP. Now it is back up to five per cent, and rising. As Kynge says, although China is already a palpable force in the world, its re-emergence is only just starting to be felt. Over the next decade the hunger for foreign jobs, raw materials, energy and food will reshape world trade, capital flows and politics. The outflow of Chinese manufactured products, tourists, students, corporate and personal investments will be felt keenly in some parts as the so-called 'bra wars' clothing disputes between China and the West has demonstrated. Kynge shows China's weaknesses - its environmental polution, its crisis in social trust, its weak financial system and the faltering institutions of its governments - which are poised to have disruptive effects on the world. The fall-out from any failure in China's rush to modernity or simply from a temporary economic crash in the Chinese economy would be felt around the world.