Customer Reviews

Understanding China: A Guide to China's Economy, History, and Political Culture

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John Bryan Starr presents an overview of China, including its geography, history, political system, economy, and social-cultural system. His excellent, in-depth analysis discusses various Chinese institutions and issues, including the military, the educational system, urban and rural problems, population growth, environment degradation, human rights, culture, and intellectual freedom. However, you should view this book as a background introduction, since most of its information dates from research completed by 1995. For the latest developments in China, refer to more current sources. The book, which is written directly and clearly without academic jargon, is directed primarily toward westerners, particularly in the United States. We recommend this book to executives in companies that are expanding into China or negotiating with Chinese business leaders, or to anyone who wants a background of solid information about China.

The book tried to cover a lot of areas, which I think, has done quite superficially. And it seems to me that the author wrote the book to prove his points, and not exactly as the title suggested, to help understand China.

He gave a comparison of data between China and USA (which is good for american readers), however, as soon as the comparison does not support his point anymore, he would happily omit the data on the US and jump to his "conclusion" on China. As an example, to show his point that China's "huge" defense budget might be a concern for the stability of the region, he omitted the US defense budget to prove his point, as opposed to explain why/why not China needs such as budget. One has to look at the geographical size, and complexities of borders of China to see why China's defense budget is not that huge after all, as compared to the US's.

And there are a lot of areas like this in the book, or presented in a way that made Chinese people look like aliens, or made the country looks like it's FUBAR.

It is true that China has its fair share of problems. However, objective presentation is still in rigueur, especially for academic research.

It is disappointing, as you consider Starr's background, and the institution he is associated with. I'm not saying that he does not understand China, but he does not portray China in a way that help readers to understand China. Instead, it will just perpertuate the stereotyping.

This is a typical book, written by a "westerner", to prove a point. Readers who have very little knowledge of China should take it with a big grain of salt.

This book is a very neat compilation of facts and figures about China. It is also important to note what this book is not, which is a comprehensive dossier on China as it is today. The book's scope is introductory & to that end, it succeeds to a great extent.

The readership gets a lot of factual data about all that defines a country - its history, geography, politics, biggest issues, the military, environmental concerns & foreign policy. Although, I never suspected the author to back an established propaganda - the book is essentially erudite - I still do not discount a possibility that certain analysis & conclusions might, at times, seem coloured. I maintain, however, that if such is the case, it is probably more of a mistake than deliberate misleading.

Also, this densely information packed nature of the book can sometimes seem a positive handicap. Certain times, there is more information than is required to form an idea of the topic under discourse; & it is possible that a reader - who is not really concerned with research type material on China - might be actually burdened with this information overload. Chapter summaries or key points would have been great, given the depth of detailed data in this book.

I also maintain that China, or any country, is a trifle to complex to be "understood" by reading a book, but if it is an introduction that you're looking for, this book is a very good read.

S!

John Starr's Understanding China: A Guide To China's Economy, History, And Political Culture is an impressive and comprehensive survey of mainland China's geography, political structure, military establishment, economics, and recent history. Invaluable and indispensable reading for students of contemporary Chinese culture and society, Understanding China is an outstanding compendium of current reports on such critical issues as the status of Taiwan and Hong Kong, the nature of the Chinese armed forces upon the Chinese economy; the uneven development and structure of Chinese commerce and finance; the problems inherent between autocratic governance and democratic rule; the role of the arts; and more. Understanding China is very highly recommended and informative reading for American policy makers, businessmen, journalists, students of Chinese affairs, as well as China-bound travelers.

John Bryan Starr's UNDERSTANDING CHINA is a solid survey of modern and contemporary China. The book takes as its underlying premise that the West must try to understand China in order to deal "with it effectively in the years ahead" (p. 323). To that end, Starr, who from historical, geographical, economic, cultural and sociological perspectives treats the full spectrum of China's recent circumstances in chapters dealing with the political system, the armed forces, cities and rural life, human rights, culture, etc., makes frequent comparison with and contrasts to Western norms.

The author sets out to answer the questions, "What are the principal problems confronting China today? What is the capacity of the Chinese political system to address these problems successfully? And, given the problems and the government's capacity, what is the outcome likely to be?" (p. 318). Using the topical approach outlined above, Starr attempts to answer these questions accordingly. He avoids a lot of speculation, but does suggest that China faces enormous problems in the years ahead, and posits that the Party-state will likely fail, either due to urban worker unrest or on account of the weakening of the center and the strengthening of the periphery (i.e., growth in regional strength). In either case the PLA would likely intervene, Starr believes, and the Army would probably be marginally better off dealing with urban unrest in restoring some sort of central government.

Starr's prose is workmanlike; to say of a book like this that surely serves as a college textbook that its style is not too dull is to give it high praise. There are few missteps; as an example of one, when Starr begins his chapter on China's imperial past ("Patterns from the Past," Chapter 2), he overanalyzes a simple Chinese time expression meaning "before" to extrapolate from it the Chinese view of "Time" (p. 40). It's not the characterization of China's conception of time as backward-looking that is off the mark, but simply Starr's extrapolating it from the simple time expression.

Any book on China that tries to deal with contemporary issues will invariably be dated by the time it appears in print. Starr's book, which first appeared in 1997, and then was revised and updated in 2001, is no exception; at the time the book was published, for instance, the Three Gorges Dam hadn't yet been completed. Hu Jintao doesn't even appear in the Index. Nonetheless, the book, now several years old, holds up quite well. It continues to serve as an excellent introduction to China, both for the serious student as well as for the reader with a casual interest in China's emerging role in the world.

A reviewer from Bangalore hit the nail on the head when they said this book was meant to be an introduction into understanding China. This book is very easy to read and does an excellent job providing the reader a very general overview on China. If one is more interested in China's economy, something written by Nicholas Lardy or other economists with works on China would be appropriate; Minxin Pei is well known for his work on rural unrest in China, and so on and so forth. Bottom line, there are well known individuals for their work on China that can provide more details for certain areas. Mr. Starr leaves the reader to go out and deepen their knowledge.

China rapid economic rise in the last three decades has been phenomenal - credible commentators are seemingly unanimous in predicting its economy will surpass that of the U.S. in about 4 years, while per capita GDP will also pass us by about 2040. Especially impressive is the fact that it involved a U-turn in direction that began almost immediately after Chairman Mao's death - led by an individual that had twice previously been purged and just prior to Mao's death had been put on a 'watch list.' Yet, Starr's "Understanding China" begins with "To the limited extent that Westerners pay attention to what is going on beyond their shores, China commands a disproportionate share of that attention." He then goes on to criticize Deng for succession planning, and asserts that 'no socialist system has yet made a smooth transition following the death of its principal leader' - oblivious that the prior transition from Mao to his designated successor, Hua Guofeng, and then to Den Xiaoping had been entirely peaceful.

This obvious bias continues throughout Starr's "Understanding China." Part of the problem is that Starr wrote his book a bit too early, when perhaps the immensity of change was still in doubt. Thus, Starr worries (unnecessarily) about the financial viability of state-owned enterprises that were kept alive by government loans and subsidies that totaled nearly half of China's GDP in 1999 forgets to mention that their numbers fell from 120,000 in 1995 to 32,000 in 2004, and that its best performing companies are in the state sector - eg. stell, aluminum, cars), its even more fragile banking system with an estimated 20% of non-performing loans, high unemployment, widening income disparity between city and rural dwellers, ethnic tensions in its border regions, environmental degradation, limited arable land, potential conflict with Taiwan and Tibet, etc. All valid and important concerns, and Starr believes they 'would tax the capability of the strongest and most able of governments.' Unfortunately, he goes on to claim that the Chinese government's 'capability is weak' and its 'near-term future looks rather dark.'

Bottom Line: "Understanding China is too dated and biased to be worth reading.

Mr. Starr seems know a lot about China, but I don't think he understand China based on what he wrote in his book. His conclusion that "an abrupt collapse of the Party-state" is unlikely to happen. Just like those who predict Hong Kong will be a chaos after return to China's rule, Mr Starr failed to realize the fundermental change in China these days which will lead to a more stable China.