Conclusion

Abstract

US–China debates need to have more “China”—not a crude and blurred caricature but a nuanced and sharp portrait of America’s most formidable competitor. Untangling complexity is never easy, but that also shouldn’t elide the fact that China’s arrival is a once-in-a-century disruption—from labor markets to global governance and from commodity prices to climate change. This volume does not merely peek behind the curtains but dives deep inside China’s economic development, its politics, and its companies. I hope the collection has exposed readers to a China that is different from what they may have imagined. It isn’t bent on overturning the world, but it is an ambitious and challenging country, alternately projecting aspiration and insecurity as it marches toward great power status.