Contemporary China

Kristina Kironska is an academic researcher who worked in Taiwan for many years, where she lectured at the University of Taipei and organized human rights lectures at Amnesty International. She currently works as an assistant professor at Palacký University Olomouc, Czech Republic, and advocacy director at the Central European Institute of Asian Studies, Slovakia.Richard Q. Turcsanyi is the program director of the Central European Institute of Asian Studies, Slovakia, and an assistant professor at Mendel University in Brno and Palacký University Olomouc, both in the Czech Republic. He is an author of Chinese Assertiveness in the South China Sea (2017) and a number of other publications dealing with Chinese foreign policy.

• Note on the transcription of Asian names and nomenclatures; Introduction: A new superpower? PART I: History, society, and culture 1. Historical legacy: A humiliated 5000-year-old civilization? 2. Mao Zedong: Why does the revolutionary leader “live forever”? 3. Tiananmen 1989: How did the massacre change China? 4. Religion, traditions, and values: What do the Chinese believe in? 5. Living standards and social issues: What is it like to live in China? PART II: Politics and economy 6. China’s political system: How does the Communist Party rule China? 7. Chinese economic miracle: How did an underdeveloped country change into a world leader? 8. Social control and propaganda: What is “social credit” and how has China handled COVID-19? 9. Rule by law: Is there justice in China? 10. Technological power: Can China innovate? 11. Environment: Does China care about it? 12. Xinjiang: Why has China imprisoned more than a million Uyghurs in re-education camps? 13. Tibet: Why is the mysterious “snowy kingdom” part of China today? 14. Hong Kong: How did the “pearl of the Orient” become a city of protests? 15. Taiwan: Why does China consider it its own and what does it mean for Taiwan? PART III: International relations 16. China in the world: A New Silk Road to world dominance? 17. China in its immediate neighborhood: A benevolent power or a hegemon? 18. Territorial disputes: Will China go to war? 19. Relations with the United States: Are the two great powers headed for a collision? 20. Relations with Europe and Russia: Partners or competitors? 21. China’s relations with the Global South: On the rise or past their peak? Index

"This textbook addresses the timely question of whether China will become a 21st century superpower. Each of its 21 chapters addresses a key challenge to China’s rise – from international relations to politics, economics, and historic and cultural legacies – with a clear empirical question. Together, they equip students to better assess China’s future trajectory. Kristina Kironska and Richard Q. Turcsanyi have done valuable work in making a difficult topic accessible to globally minded students around the world." - Peter Gries, Lee Kai Hung Chair and Director of the Manchester China Institute, and Professor of Chinese Politics at the University of Manchester, UK.[This] book provides much needed information in the time of China’s growing global influence. In the Taiwan chapter, Dr. Kristina Kironska portrayed a comprehensive picture of the evolution of Taiwan’s political system, the economic pathway, as well as the progresses made in human rights. A must read for people who wish to gain understanding about the complexities and realities that Taiwan faces on the quest for establishing its identity with the historical depth tracing back to its Austronesian origin. - Sho Lin, Chair of Amnesty International TaiwanContemporary China: A New Superpower? is a very pertinent and timely overview of what China has become today, both domestically and on the international stage. Authored mainly by Czech and Slovakian established China experts, the collection of chapters that it includes provides fresh views on China's history, politics, economic development, society and international relations. It is a nuanced yet comprehensive analysis of the trajectory of a country that has triggered many ill-founded myths and clichés. On the contrary, this Central European view of China is rich and accurate, putting into perspective the changes that Mao Zedong's Deng Xiaoping's and Xi Jinping's China has gone through to better assess the most likely scenarios for the future. It is a great read -- a must read in my opinion -- not only for scholars and students of China but also for business people and educated men and women at large who are curious to better comprehend a rising power that may not overtake the United States as fast as some had predicted but which is actively contributing to shaping the future of this planet. - Jean-Pierre Cabestan, Senior Research Fellow, Asia Centre, Paris, France