When China Rules the World

The End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order

By: Martin Jacques

Narrated by: Scott Peterson

According to even the most conservative estimates, China will overtake the United States as the world's largest economy by 2027 and will ascend to the position of world economic leader by 2050. But the full repercussions of China's ascendancy - for itself and the rest of the globe - have been surprisingly little explained or understood.

In this far-reaching and original investigation, Martin Jacques offers provocative answers to some of the most pressing questions about China's growing place on the world stage. Martin Jacques reveals, by elaborating on three historical truths, how China will seek to shape the world in its own image. The Chinese have a rich and long history as a civilization-state. Under the tributary system, outlying states paid tribute to the Middle Kingdom. Ninety-four percent of the population still believes they are one race - "Han Chinese." The strong sense of superiority rooted in China's history promises to resurface in 21st century China and in the process strengthen and further unify the country.

A culturally self-confident Asian giant with a billion-plus population, China will likely resist globalization as we know it. This exceptionalism will have powerful ramifications for the rest of the world and the United States in particular. As China is already emerging as the new center of the East Asian economy, the mantle of economic and, therefore, cultural relevance will in our lifetimes begin to pass from Manhattan and Paris to cities like Beijing and Shanghai. It is the American relationship with and attitude toward China, Jacques argues, that will determine whether the 21st century will be relatively peaceful or fraught with tension, instability, and danger.

When China Rules the World is the first book to fully conceive of and explain the upheaval that China's ascendance will cause and the realigned global power structure it will create.

©2009 Martin Jacques (P)2009 Gildan Media Corp

Critic reviews

"A convincing economic, political and cultural analysis of waning Western dominance and the rise of China and a new paradigm of modernity. Jacques takes the pulse of the nation poised to become, by virtue of its scale and staggering rate of growth, the biggest market in the world...As comprehensive as it is compelling, this brilliant audiobook is crucial listening for anyone interested in understanding where the we are and where we are going." ( Publishers Weekly)

Historical review was great! But does not show 2nd (evil) face of China, or glosses over it.

Historical review was great! Give it a 70% out of 100 overall for its content. But the book does not show second (evil) face of China, one smiles at you and allows you to teach them, banking, engineering, investing, etc,… giving them millions/Billions of dollars and assistance to them! At the same time they are pushing drugs to your people, internet discord, providing weapons to your enemies... They take advantage of any nation they can, resources, government…and no concern for green house emissions ... This second face should have been exposed more which would better show what the future might be like with China leading it. I don’t know if it is intentional by the author or lack of understanding but author paints USA in a negative light and China in a positive light too often. I wish he would have stayed more to all facts and not gloss over import information that the reader should beware of when reading such a book. Well worth reading but know it’s not the whole picture and China is painted in a more positive light than it actual is.

Lucid explanation of global economic trends

Jacques' book's lucid prose and textbook explanations of global economic trends is a welcome addition to the growing literature on the rise of East Asia. Jacques focuses on China as he analyzes the rise of East Asia and the competing modernities of the 21st century.

Scott Peterson's narration is sped up and edited, which compresses the content for a faster listen. I enjoyed this. What I did not enjoy, however, is that Peterson made ZERO EFFORT to PRONOUNCE CHINESE, making most words unrecognizable. It would have taken Peterson maybe an extra hour of work to learn the fundamentals of pronunciation as Simon Vance did for his narration of Lost on Planet China. Peteron's lazy, ambiguous pronunciation will be extremely frustrating for anyone with even a cursory knowledge of China.

5 stars for solid content. 2 stars for sub-par narration and lazy pronunciation.

Excellent, Even Handed

I doubt I could be as even handed as this book. It really made me stop to consider the inevitability of China's rise to the top and how our acceptance of this or not will well determine our fate as Americans. Falling to second is never pleasant but it will happen and sooner than we think.

Will it be a soft landing or hard fall? Depends on whether can accept what is going to happen with grace.

Painful but very, very well expressed. I highly recommend this book.

Thorough and thought provoking

It was intriguing to learn about the political, economic and cultural processes involved in the development of China and of the changing status in the world compared to that of the USA. It amazes me the extent to which China has become the largest producer of goods consumed in our country and the extent to which they depend on us to buy their products. Their investment in our nation in money, students, real estate, tourism et al in my opinion will help promote a strong mutually beneficial relationship that can overcome political differences and efforts by some American zealots who see China mainly as a threat to our security. With the Russians we maintained peace with the threat of mutual destruction until the collapse of the USSR. With China, I think our economic inter-dependency provides a more durable cement for peaceful coexistence. We both have more to lose than to gain in pursuing military solutions to resolve our many differences. Our Nation is still young and although sputtering politically, is not going anywhere and I am confident, will regain her footing. This is important because the nation civilization of China and the rest of the world will need to work in better harmony to overcome the severe challenges resulting from everyone’s industrialization.

Comprehensive and Gracefully Written

Martin Jacques manages to make a scholarly work not just readable but thoroughly enjoyable. Highly recommended as an introduction to modern China.

CHINA

Even though Martin Jacques’ book, When China Rules the World, has some interesting details, it fails to convince one that China will rule the world. The provocative title drives the bus but it does not reach its destination. His overview of the geo-political and Realpolitik relationships of the east and west are enlightening. But, world control is a myth that causes war and destroys “the best and brightest” of cultures that believe in it.

Never the less, what is happening in China is remarkable. China’s transition from Maoist communism to capitalist communism is like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly; i.e. China has wings but it still lives in a world constrained by its environment.

Jacques’ book exposes some of the cultural biases of China that are not widely known. His suggestion that discrimination is as prevalent in China as it is in the United States is reprehensible and disgustingly familiar. Globalization is real; however, human nature is immutable. All mankind travels on the same space ship, earth. At the very least, China is proving that our environment is fragile and natural resources are finite.

Find another narrator, please!

The narrators, voice, accent, rhythm, and miss pronunciations of words was quite irritating. I often wanted to turn them off or switch to another narrator. The book was well written and had a lot of great information theories history etc. I enjoyed the
book but not the narration.

Its gets better

This book is way too long and would have benefited greatly from the eye of an editor. First, they could have removed all references to the word "inconceivable" which would have reduced the length of the book by a good 10%. Removing duplicate sentences could have reduced it by a further 35%. Elimiating the inane anecdotes would have cut a further 15%. It would still have been a bit a long winded.

However for those willing to sit through the 16.5 hours, it is quite illuminating and in the 2nd half, things do start to come together in a compelling way.

Do your homework

So many mispronounced Chinese terms that it makes it hard to follow the narrator without a book. While I empathize that Chinese isn't the narrator's native tongue, the fact that they don't even sound close to the actual terms shows he didn't really do his homework (e.g. pronouncing the dynasty Qin as "chin" is passable but as "kin" is confusing). I don't think the author would approve as well.

The content by Jacques is great. Just buy the book and avoid the audible version

Good book marred by poor audio performance

In print form, When China Rules the World is a valuable contribution to our understanding of the civilizational fundamentals of China. Martin Jacques surveys centuries of world history and broadly analyzes China's economic take-off to offer a primer for the educated layperson, and he does this in a way that respects China on its own terms. The audiobook version, not at all. Inexpicably, the producers of this version failed to ensure that the narrator, Scott Peterson, could pronounce Chinese names in even a ballpark way. I don't mind if a Euro-American can't speak the tones central to the Chinese language, but when "Qing" is pronounced "King" this shows a serious lack of effort. The result is not useful, and represents a missed opportunity to extend Mr. Jacques admirable work in audiobook form. Listen to this excellent book, but check other sources for how to pronounce the names of Chinese cities, historical figures, concepts, etc. When China rules the world, maybe this excellent book will find a competent narrator.