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James McGregor
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NO ANCIENT WISDOM, NO FOLLOWERS: The Challenges of Chinese Authoritarian Capitalism Paperback – November 6, 2012

by James McGregor (Author)
3.6 3.6 out of 5 stars 12 ratings
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In the past three decades, China has risen from near collapse to a powerhouse -- upending nearly every convention on the world stage, whether policy or business. China is now the globe’s second largest economy, second largest exporter, a manufacturing machine that has lifted 500 million of its citizens from poverty while producing more than one million US dollar millionaires.

Then why do China’s leaders describe the nation’s economic model as “unstable and unsustainable”? Because it is.

James McGregor has spent 25 years in China as a businessman, journalist and author. In this, his latest highly readable book, he offers extensive new research that pulls back the curtain on China’s economic power. He describes the much-vaunted “China Model” as one of authoritarian capitalism, a unique system that, in its own way, is terminating itself. It is proving incompatible with global trade and business governance. It is threatening multinationals, which fear losing their business secrets and technology to China’s mammoth state-owned enterprises. It is fielding those SOEs – China’s “national champions” -- into a global order angered by heavily subsidized state capitalism. And it is relying on an outdated investment and export model that’s running out of steam.

What has worked in the past, won’t work in the future. The China Model must be radically overhauled if the country hopes to continue its march toward prosperity. The nation must consume more of what it makes. It must learn to innovate. It must unleash private enterprise.

And the Communist Party bosses? They must cede their pervasive and smothering hold on economic power to foster the growth, and thus social stability, that they can’t survive without. Government must step back, the state-owned economy must be brought to heel, and opportunity must be freed.

During the Tang Dynasty, an official in the imperial court observed: “No ancient wisdom, no followers.” He was lamenting that regime was headed alone into dangerous and uncharted waters without any precedent for guidance.

Again today – as McGregor makes clear – this is China’s greatest challenge.
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  1. Print length
    146 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Prospecta Press
  4. Publication date
    November 6, 2012
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 0.5 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1935212818
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1935212812
  8. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Prospecta Press (November 6, 2012)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 146 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1935212818
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1935212812
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8.8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.5 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.6 3.6 out of 5 stars 12 ratings

About the author

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James McGregor

James McGregor

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James McGregor is an American author, journalist and businessman who has lived in China for more than 20 years. He is a senior counselor for APCO Worldwide and a professional speaker and CNBC commentator who specializes in China's business, politics and society. In addition to his China books, he is also author of the 2010 report "China's Drive for 'Indigenous Innovation' - a Web of Industrial Policies."

From 1987 to 1990 McGregor served as The Wall Street Journal's bureau chief in Taiwan, and from 1990 to 1994 as the paper's bureau chief in Mainland China. From 1994 to 2000, he was chief executive of Dow Jones & Company in China, and he also became a vice-president in the Dow Jones International Group. After leaving Dow Jones, he was China managing partner for GIV Venture Partners, a $140 million venture capital fund specializing in the Chinese Internet and technology outsourcing.

In 1996, McGregor was elected as chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China. He also served for a decade as a governor of that organization. He is a member of the Atlantic Council, Council on Foreign Relations, National Committee on US-China Relations and International Council of the Asia Society. He serves on a variety of China-related advisory boards. For more information visit his Web site, www.jamesmcgregor-inc.com.

Customer reviews

3.6 out of 5 stars
12 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Adam Williams
5.0 out of 5 stars GRASPING THE CHANGES
Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2012
Verified Purchase
Every once in a while a China book takes the pulse of a decade before anybody else has quite got to grips with the issues, shining a light on the problems and altering received perceptions . Simon Leys' `Chinese Shadows' in the mid 1970s lifted the veil of what had really been happening during the Cultural Revolution, unblinkering Western eyes. Professor Yasheng Huang's `Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics' defined the true nature of corporatism in the Nineties, James Kynge's `China Shakes the World' ' published a few years into the 21st Century, revealed how China had surreptitiously become an economic titan on the international stage, and now James McGregor in his `No Ancient Wisdom, No Followers" has described the crisis that has crept up on China during the last ten years, explaining the true cost of double digit growth without political change, and pithily presenting the difficult choice now facing the Chinese Communist Party : reform yourself or face economic stagnation or at worst social revolt. An essential book both for students of China and for businesses that seek to understand what is really going on behind the headlines.
3 people found this helpful
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M. P. Spencer-Smith
4.0 out of 5 stars How Chinese business really works
Reviewed in the United States on November 12, 2012
Verified Purchase
This book shows how, when you negotiate with a Chinese company, you are really negotiating with the entire state apparatus. Most of what you see is a facade for the Party. Do not expect companies to be companies in the Western sense.

It looks like a behemoth that could sweep all before it, but it also has cracks. Has it feet of clay? We shall see.

Don't take your usual mobile phone or laptop with you when you go to China, and wipe them when you get home. And never accept any presents of memory sticks!
3 people found this helpful
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B. Stewart
2.0 out of 5 stars Accessible yet superficial treatment of Chinese political economy
Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2013
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Those with deep background knowledge on the Chinese political economy, or anyone accustomed to rigorous research, will find this book wanting. Mr. McGregor reaches reasonable conclusions, and therefore offers a sensible treatment of the topic. However, there is little to no original research, and I was frustrated by the endless pages filled with material drawn from previous reporting. For example, three consecutive pages are consumed by the demise of one private Chinese firm, Cathay Biotech. The firm's abuse at the hands of state-owned enterprises and their supporters within the Chinese bureaucracy highlights the institutional obstacles that indigenous private enterprises face, but the anecdote is drawn entirely from a single report by the NY Times which I had already read. Such reliance on single sources to occupy large spaces of a very small book suggests an unwillingness to conduct thorough, independent research on the part of the author. As a consequence of the author's over-reliance on previous reporting, readers are unlikely to be introduced to original knowledge or unique perspectives. Instead, the book serves as a copy and paste job of mainstream business and political reporting from the past few years. This book is not the product of scholarship or investigative reporting. For a more original and insightful introduction to China's political economy, look elsewhere.
7 people found this helpful
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Jeffrey A, Brueggemann
3.0 out of 5 stars Not bad, but nothing especially profound.
Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2013
Verified Purchase
Fairly easy to read, but as of yet not much new. It does reinforce much of what is out there however.
I would recommend this to people who have not spent much time in China to get a general understanding. There were some good antecdotes however!
One person found this helpful
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Rich_Persen
5.0 out of 5 stars Worthwhile, But Not an Easy Read
Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2017
Verified Purchase
This is not an easy read, but if you take the time to understand the messaging, it's well worth your time.
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Josh
1.0 out of 5 stars Save your time...there are better options
Reviewed in the United States on November 6, 2012
Jim continues his recent pattern of ranting against China--often on topics that the government has opened itself to criticism. However, this book has little new information or revelations. He does little to explain why China's model has proven so resilient even as underlying factors like wage inflation, massive debt and weak demand abroad point to a potential serious slowdown. Instead, he clings to broad generalizations about the lack of legitimacy of the Party and its inherent troubles.

This effort seems to validate the rumor that most of his work these days--like the recent Indigenous Innovation Report--has been heavily outsourced to his research team. If that's not the case, it is unclear why such a skilled writer has made such a weak effort. He barely manages to scrape together 146 pages--and comes up with such brilliant revelations as China has helped out SOEs by providing free land and giving them loans at preferential interest rates (something mentioned in every housing bubble article since 2007).

If you're thinking about buying a book that provides insight in China's current economic and political challenges Red Capitalism, China's Superbank, or Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics are all better bets.
14 people found this helpful
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Helmut Janus
5.0 out of 5 stars Einführung in den chinesischen Staatskapitalismus
Reviewed in Germany on December 17, 2012
Verified Purchase
Am Anfang des Buchs nimmt McGregor den Leser auf eine Tour um die zweite Ringstraße in Peking mit. Wo einstmals die Stadtmauer verlief, stehen heute die Zentralen der großen Staatsunternehmen, der Banken und einiger Ministerien. Deren Macht und Einfluss sowie die Förderung durch die Politik werden in den folgenden Kapiteln detailliert beschrieben, immer wieder unterbrochen von zahlreichen Beispielen, die in eingeschobenen Kästen vorgestellt werden. Das Buch räumt gründlich auf mit der immer wieder vorgebrachten These von der fortschreitenden Modernisierung und Liberalisierung der chinesischen Wirtschaft und dem großen Konflikt zwischen marktwirtschaftlich verfasster Wirtschaft und autoritärem politischen System. Vielmehr hat China seit 2006 systematisch die großen Staatsunternehmen gefördert, in erster Linie durch zinsgünstige Kredite und niedrige Grundstückskosten, und dabei oft private Unternehmen verdrängt. Wesentliche Sektoren der chinesischen Wirtschaft werden durch Monopole oder Oligopole staatlicher Konzerne beherrscht. McGregor zeigt die Kehrseiten dieser Entwicklung auf, die grassierende Korruption, Verschwendung und Ineffizienz, faule Kredite in horrender Höhe, zunehmende Konflikte mit ausländischen Konzernen und die Verletzung der mit der WTO getroffenen Vereinbarungen.

Das Buch ist mit 113 Seiten kurz, aber prall gefüllt mit Fakten. Wer sich in Deutschland richtig über China informieren will, kommt an englischsprachigen Büchern nicht vorbei. Das Buch von McGregor reiht sich für mich ein in eine Reihe hochklassiger und bestens informierter China-Bücher wie „Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics“ von Yasheng Huang, „The Party“ von Richard McGregor und „Red Capitalism“ von Carl Walter und Fraser Howie. Dagegen enthalten deutsche China-Bücher oft nur Geschwafel.
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イットク
4.0 out of 5 stars 共産中国の脅威がよくわかる
Reviewed in Japan on May 6, 2013
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筆者は米国有数のジャーナリストで中国問題専門家。本としては、薄いが中身は非常に濃い。巻末の脚注が圧巻。引用はほとんど中国共産党系国営企業や新聞、雑誌の類から丹念に拾い集め、ほかの欧米諸国の専門書も参照したうえで書かれているだけに説得力がある。中国共産党の欺瞞と野望がてんこ盛りで類書の追随を許さないものが感じられる。我々自由民主主義国では到底許されないことを中国共産党は世界規模の巧妙な戦略に基づき平然と内外で展開している怖い無法国家であることが理解できた。中国内の一般庶民にも是非読んでほしいと思うが到底無理か。
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