Customer Reviews

China's Generation Y: Understanding the Future Leaders of the World's Next Superpower

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

China's Generation: Understanding The Future Leaders Of The World's Next Superpower by seventeen year old author Michael Stanat deftly and knowledgeably addresses the phenomena of China's emergence as an economic power that has the capacity to rival the United States. The problem is that while American and European businesses are trying to take advantage of China's burgeoning youth market, there is very little solid research data for them to base their marketing strategies upon. What Michael Stanat has done is to employ focus groups, original research, and first-hand observations of that heretofore elusive demographic marketing information to provide American businessmen and political scientists with a glimpse into the new generation of "capitalism friendly" Chinese and the predicted future of China-U.S. relations. Articulate, informative, thoughtful and thought-provoking, China's Generation is strongly recommended reading for anyone wanting to do business with China's youth market, or who want a glimpse into what we can expect from China over then next few decades.

Today's teens in China are becoming more like our teens, or so it seems. What does this mean for the world? Stanat contends that because of China's booming economy, their motivation and their acceptance of foreign trends, China's Generation y will become the world's leaders. Although the book first appeared to be a futurist's manifesto because of its title, I later found it to be more of an assessment of the generation. I give the book four stars primarily because of its interesting subject matter. You may find especially interesting the sections on life goals and ethnic minorities and foreigners. The book is also fact-filled; each chapter is substantiated with at least 15 sources.

The book loses a star because I did not like how the introduction praised China's rising. It is not until the middle of the book that we hear signs of China's problems. The book is wordy in some chapters. Also, I wouldn't say at this point in time that they are destined to be "world leaders" so much as "forces to reckon with."

Stanat does have a good message that people should listen to, even though it's unlikely to be followed. He says, "We can be confident in believing that in the future we will see today's Chinese teenagers sitting across from us at the negotiating table, be it business or politics...we should enhance the bonds between our two cultures and learn how to ensure that we remain symbiotic friends."

I found this book to be remarkably close to my own observations of teenagers in China. I travel to China for business four times a year and have witnessed first-hand the great changes in the last two decades. Generation Y in China is different from its parents and what they think now will play a role in the future, especially in my industry. Not only insightful, the book provided my company with updated purchasing power data.

I've read books like "China Inc" by Ted Fishman that have already predicted the future. This book however is careful in its predictions. Rather than rant and rave, it shows what today's teenagers do and how they think, allowing us to make our own conclusions about the future. Unlike other China books, this one indicates the problems facing their futures, providing a surprisingly realistic snapshot of the current situation.

I enjoyed this interesting read from a teenager's perspective and I only wish I had written this when I was seventeen!

Michael Stanat should be credited for his Nostradamus-esque predictions over five years ago. Regardless, NOW is the pivotal moment to read China's Generation Y and "understand the Future Leaders of the World's Nex Superpower," China. Published over five years ago when fewer American businesses were aware of China's potential, Generation Y gets to the core of figuring out China's main consumers, youths age 18-25. As a Chinese-American with an anthropological perspective, I believe the insights gained form this book truly reveal the origin of the preferences Chinese youths 18-25 (a large percentage of the consumer population in the global economy). The producer of over 97% of the world's rare earth supply, China is well past the age of the passive consumer. The youth of China-- Generation y-- is actively consuming and possibly creating global youth trends. Within the past five years since Generation y was published China has grown in power and now, 2011, China is surging more than ever. Everyone can gain useful insights into China from this highly readable book and gain an understanding of the cultural changes currently sweeping China. While the United States is still fighting to recover from its economic crisis, China's middle class is rising faster and spending more. Some say it's difficult to predict if China will lead the world's global economy, but there is no disputing that China is an emerging super economy. All potential investors who are interested in jumping into China's economy need to learn about the youths from generation Y -- the most active Chinese consumers!

I did not like this book. It screams "typical vanity project", considering that Michael Stanat's mother owns the publishing company that published this book. I can imagine Michael Stanat saying "But MOOOMM, I WANNA write about China and be published". And so, his mother did her motherly duty by publishing his work. The result is a book that is terribly written and provides little additional information about the topic. I am ashamed to have spent money on this, I tried to pawn it off to friends who are studying China, but even they hated this and gave it back to me. And so, I left my copy of this book on a sidewalk in the hopes that it will make someone laugh.

I was looking forward very much to read this book, but I was ultimately disappointed.

I do not believe the book presents an authentic view of China's Generation-Y. The book adopts a patronizing Western-biased consumer-centric view that portray Generation-Y as card-board stereotype consumers with a insatiable demand for Western products.

Unfortunately much of the information about Gen-Y is banal, superficial and is typically what you would get after a few minutes of Googling. It does not offer any new insights into the deeper level values of Generation Y in their emerging socio-cultural and environmental context. China's immense and mounting environmental challenges which will shape the future of Generation Y, are superficially glanced over on two pages.

If you have an interest in the Chinese market then you have already read the same in the other thousands of books out there. This is just a poor repeat with the author adding in questionable personal experiences that I find hard to believe are accurate. The Doogie Howser of Market Research???? Give me a break.
Because I did like the pictures I give it one star, at least they were original.