Contemporary China: 1949 to the Present

Gilles Guiheux est Professeur des Universités, enseignant à l’UFR des Langues et Civilisations de l’Asie Orientale (LCAO), membre du CESSMA, et membre senior de l’IUF. Sociologue, ses recherches portent sur la Chine contemporaine.

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This book provides a clear, authoritative and up-to-date history of China since 1949, drawing on extensive research to describe and explain the key developments and to dispel the many myths and misconceptions surrounding this twenty-first-century superpower. In contrast to many commentators who overstate the novelty of the Communist regime, Guiheux emphasizes instead its complex political heritage, highlighting the many continuities it shares with the reformers and revolutionaries of the early twentieth century. At the same time, the ability of China’s authoritarian regime to transform the economy and society is key to understanding its breakneck trajectory of modernization – an ability that, as Guiheux explains, far outweighed the importance and effectiveness of Mao’s utopian vision. Guiheux also aims to ‘de-exoticize’ China. While not on the path of a Western-style modernity, China has experienced the same phenomena that have characterized every historical process of modernization: industrialization, urbanization, bureaucratization and globalization.

Lien : https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=contemporary-china-1949-to-the-present–9781509552498