Why China Will Never Rule the World: Travels in the Two Chinas [Paperback]

Troy Parfitt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 2011

After having lived in Taipei for ten years, Troy Parfitt sets out on an epic journey to test the theory that China is ascending toward a position of global hegemony. The result is a whirlwind tour of the Chinese world, one that enlightens, astonishes, and entertains. Parfitt shows us that he is the perfect China tour guide-the steward of an intimate knowledge of the nation's history, culture, and psyche yet not serving any interest other than an investigative one. Here is a unique and powerful book, one that will change the way people think about China and its "great rise." Why China Will Never Rule the World is a tour de force; vital for anyone wishing to understand what China is, what is has been, and what it is likely to become.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Parfitt, who has taught English in Taiwan for over a decade, uses his experience there to start several months of travel through the People's Republic of China in order to challenge the assumptions that China will determine the course of the global economy in the next century. The result is mostly travelogue told from an outsider's perspective, contextualized with overviews of major events in Chinese history. Parfitt argues that China will not rule the world, because as a nation it is more interested in the appearance of success than actual substance. He suggests that culturally, China has little to offer. More importantly, the majority of goods currently being created in China come from non-Chinese companies, again proving a lack of innovation. Parfitt makes a compelling case from the microcosmic level for why it will be difficult for China to become the primary hegemonic force of the 21st century. However, his book lacks the pre-cise facts and figures that he decries in other books promoting Chinese dominance. Parfitt is a persuasive writer and readers will leave his tale scratching their heads and perhaps deciding that they do not want to visit China at all. --Publisher's Weekly, June 2011

About the Author

The author of Notes from the Other China (New York: Algora Publishing, 2007), Troy Parfitt lived and worked as an English teacher in Seoul, South Korea and Taipei, Taiwan for nearly thirteen years. In 2009, he returned to Canada to take a teaching position at that country's oldest English-language university.

Product Details

• Paperback: 424 pages
• Publisher: Western Hemisphere Press (September 15, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0986803502
• ISBN-13: 978-0986803505
• Product Dimensions: 1.1 x 5.5 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #973,553 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #28 in Books > Travel > Asia > Taiwan
  • #46 in Books > History > Asia > Taiwan

More About the Author

Born in New Brunswick, Canada in 1972, Troy Parfitt earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of New Brunswick before moving to Seoul, South Korea in 1996 to teach English. In 1998, he moved to Taipei, Taiwan to teach English and stayed until 2009. In 2007, his first book, Notes from the Other China (Algora Publishing) received mixed reviews. In 2011, his second effort, Why China Will Never Rule the World (Western Hemisphere Press) was met more favorably. Troy currently resides in Edinburgh, Scotland and is working on a volume called Adventures in the Brave New Canada.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars The Verdict May be Harsh, but Seems Well-Reasoned November 12, 2011

By Roger D. Launius VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

For years we have heard that China is on the verge of becoming the dominant nation in the world. It's massive population, its rapid industrialization, its expanding economy, its large untapped reservoir of natural resources, and a host of other strengths have been deployed as evidence for this seemingly inevitable transformation of superpower relations around the globe. In my own arena of space history and policy, I am constantly asked to comment on the belief, mistaken though it may be, that China is going to land on the Moon, claim it for the PRC, and exploit its resources for national benefit. Such an assessment is naďve at best; certainly it is not based on serious investigation of what has been happening in the Chinese space program. For all of the capability that this program has developed in the last decade-plus, it still has very far to go before such missions will become feasible. Moreover, the Chinese space program would have to do something no one else has been successful in doing before it can send Taikonauts to the Moon, figure out a reason for doing so. Needless to say, such a mission is problematic.

But what about all of the other talk, also naďve in its emphasis, about China achieving unquestioned superpower status. Troy Parfitt, a Canadian teacher in Asia, was curious about this very Western perception of China and set out to explore that nation and assess its recent transformation. This book is the result. "Why China Will Never Rule the World" is an inartfully named book that argues that the actual nation does not live up to the Western hype. As much an anything it is a travelogue, and as such it provides a fair measure of understanding about the Chinese. Parfitt visited 17 of 22 provinces in China. He found the major cities, especially Hong Kong, Beijing, Nanjing, and the like, quite impressive in terms what had been accomplished in bringing the residents into a more modern urban setting.

Not so in the countryside, as society, economics, etc., seemingly had not changed nearly as much. One takeaway from this narrative was that China has made remarkable progress toward industrialization in its major cities, but much of the rural areas have been left behind. Additionally, Parfitt spends some time working through claims offered on behalf of China and finds them highly questionable. He concludes that while it might be possible for China to someday become democratic, there is no evidence to believe this will happen. "So far there wasn't so much as a scintilla of evidence to suggest even a modicum of political liberalization, let alone full-blown egalitarianism," he wrote. "China, was, purely and simply, a totalitarian state, and those who advocated an alternative tended to deny the obvious: communism fit China like a glove. It was Legalism, Confucianism, feudalism, and the teachings of Lao Tzu all wrapped up into one, which is to say it represented a potent and frequently lethal blend of a number of native ideologies that were in and of themselves highly toxic and recipe for disaster" (p. 299).

Parfitt went on to speculate, in a passage that I found quite insightful: "I saw much of the current interest in China as the embodiment of a collective wish: a wish to see one of the world's oldest societies open up, liberalize, and become free. After all, theoretorically, that would be good for the Chinese people and good for all of humanity. But it is a wish fueled by an abyss of naivety and a canyon-sized lack of understanding as to China's true nature" (p. 302).

One can only emerge from reading this book with the perception that China is hopeless as a nation that could take leadership in the world. This is a book that both repels me from China, a place I have long wanted to visit, and attracts me to see for myself if Parfitt's criticisms would be supported by my own observations. Maybe someday I'll have a chance to find out.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Maybe, or maybe not September 8, 2011

By H. Schneider

Format:Kindle Edition

I received an advance copy of this book for review purposes. Normally I am not keen to accept such a chore, but this book met my interest sufficiently. It is quite large with over 400 pages, but its lively style and skillful mixture of fun and thoughtfulness never let it become tedious. The final book version may be different from the version that I had for reading.

It is impossible to address all issues within the limits of an amazon review, but I will try to cover the most important ones. The book has three parts: 2 different China trips and a Taiwan trip. It also has 3 different genres for the price of 1: travel account, history summary, and speculation about the future.
We don't seem to have disagreements on the past, the atrocious history. That agreement is certainly to some extent due to our shared reading: Jung Chang, Iris Chang, Fairbanks, Spence, Becker, Fenby, Seagrave....

The travel itinerary covers almost only places that I have also visited over the last 25 years. However, I tend to travel a little more comfortably. Generally, my perspective and my scope of experience are different from the writer's. I am not that much exposed to the cheap and ugly side of the place. I also seem to get to eat well much more often. That is possibly the reason why I am more positive about daily experiences. I rarely run into the aggravating `no can do' attitude that frustrates the writer so (I have heard of the `mei you banfa', but I don't meet it.) His itinerary leaves out some stunning places (which, admittedly, are all more or less afflicted by the symptoms of mass tourism.) All in all the China travels in this book are a bit too negative for my taste, while Taiwan comparisons seem a little biased to the positive side.

An example of different observations: Troy says (on page 78 of my version) that one practically never sees anyone exercising or playing sports. That is rather different from my experience. I see runners, walkers, tai-chi practitioners, and street-side ball- room dancers, players of badminton, ping pong, football, and volleyball and so on and so forth all the time.

Troy makes a statement about the few Chinese overseas tourists. That is outdated. In the meantime, Chinese are the world champions of international tourism. Of course in a country with 1.3 billion people, still more are traveling domestically, but it is wrong to say that Chinese can't travel internationally. (Example: my assistant, a young Chinese wife and mother, has recently been abroad 3 times, to Indonesia, Laos, and Turkey, in a Chinese backpacker version of tourism.)

Odd is also a story about travel guide books confiscated by Chinese immigration. Honestly, I have never heard of such a story. My only similar experience was on the `other side': the Taiwanese immigration confiscated a book by the German ambassador to Beijing from me. I never heard that Chinese immigration or customs bothered about printed matter carried by tourists. I have never even been asked about it, and I have entered the country many times since 1995.

Can China never rule the world, as Troy claims? My counter question would be: Can anybody ever `rule the world'? In which sense anyway? Surely not in the sense of total control? Maybe in the sense of being strong enough to have some influence? Does the US rule the world? Has it ever? Even when it was/is beyond doubt the strongest nation, economically and militarily?
Under which conditions could one say that China rules the world?
Does the concept of `ruling the world' make sense at all?
I realize the title is not meant literally, and as a provocation for thought it serves well.

For sure China is mired in myriad problems, but I believe that Troy is a little myopic if he thinks, as the prologue suggests, that these have been growing lately. I don't think so. I have been related to China since a while now and I have observed fluctuations in foreign interest and commentary. At the same time, the strength of the country has grown and problems of all kinds have either been solved or have shrunk into oblivion or are maintained on a kind of permanent basis. Undeniably, there is always a certain precariousness about the success stories.
Only foolish romantics would claim that the place is paradise. I agree with an essential pessimism about prospects for liberalization. I believe that the argument has truth, that the communist party rule did not drop out of nowhere, that it is a rather logical consequence or offspring of Confucianism. Therefore I also agree that Chinese civilization is not suitable for large scale expansion into other civilizations. It does not really have much to offer, culturally. In that sense, China will `rule' substantial slices of the world only if it opens and internationalizes (rather than westernizes).
By the way, Troy injects quotes from `1984' at appropriate places in the narrative, which works quite brilliantly.
My conclusion on this interesting book: I recommend it as a general introduction. It is a well written combination of travel account, historical comment and passionate speculation.

42 of 52 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars The Sound of One Hand Not Clapping October 17, 2011

By David Wineberg

Format:Paperback

I wish I could characterize this book as easily as its author characterizes the Chinese. Then I could simply say it was misguided, miscategorized, and missed a great adventure. But it's not as easy as that, a lesson that author Troy Parfitt needs to understand.
I really wanted to love the book, from the title alone. But when Parfitt sent it to me to review, I was surprised to see it was categorized not as economic or political, but as Current Affairs/Travel. From the title, I expected a deep political/economic analysis that would lead to a defensible, concrete conclusion. Mistitled.
It is nominally about his wonderful, extensive trip through the backwaters of China. Unfortunately, Parfitt is so busy hating China and the Chinese, he misses the fact that he was having a great adventure in another culture. He constantly wishes for streets lined with Starbucks and Subways and 7-Elevens, and he just doesn't get them in China (except for occasional sanctuary in a KFC) until he gets home to Taiwan, where he taught English for 10 years. The rest of us strain to vacation in places without Coca-Cola signs; Parfitt gets crabby without them. Early on, he complains at length that the Chinese don't know how to make pizza. He is horrified that food he orders in hole in the wall restaurants is authentic rural awful offal. What he is looking for is Olive Garden.
Incredibly, Parfitt speaks Chinese and understands what everyone is saying both to him and about him, a perspective none of us mere mortals will ever have. He understands people arguing in the street, talking on the phone, pestering him for sex, and yelling across the room, giving him so much more of an experience than I had when I visited China, twice. After talking to local hucksters, he was even able to sneak into North Korea by himself for a few moments! While Parfitt is thrilled to never go back to China, I could spend several more months there. Hence my conundrum.
Parfitt hammers a single note again and again and again, sometimes twice in the same paragraph in case you missed it: the Chinese are ignorant peasants, devoid of culture, history, manners or tact. Got it. Without exaggeration, that note is sounded 500 times in 400 pages. That's why the Chinese will never rule the world, it seems. Everything about the country is backward, inefficient, and extraordinarily annoying. Absolutely everything gets under his skin, form clerks' little power games to warm beer, to China's infamous pollution, and even including western tourists he encounters. His misadventures, which would provide you or me with endless stories to dine off of, provide Parfitt with evidence the Chinese are a hopeless basket case. The book is just resoundingly and poundingly negative. But while Parfitt was being depressing, I was wishing I could have such a trip. Hence my conundrum.
It occurred to me he could have come to the same conclusion travelling the backwaters of the USA. If he had spent three months on greasy Greyhound buses and in dingy hostels, going from Wheeling to Biloxi to Lubbock to St. Louis, he would have encountered endless poverty, uneducated overweight locals with no manners or patience, who couldn't tell you the capital of their own state, let alone name a single state senator, revolting restaurants, fleabag hotels, and thieves around every corner. And from that I guess he would conclude the USA would never be fit to rule the world. He would damn all Americans as hopeless. Hence my conundrum.
So while the book can be a fascinating travelog, it isn't. It's a vitriolic attempt to damn 1.3 billion people for eternity. And that's misguided.