Rise of China

Wolfram Elsner is a retired Professor of Economics at the University of Bremen, Germany, and a Guest Professor at the School of Economics, Jilin University, China.Elyar Najmehchi holds an MA in Economy and Society of East Asia from the University of Vienna, Austria.

• 1. Introduction: Me, China, and the Chinese.- Part I: Learning to comprehend China ... or a hybrid warfare.- 2. What strikes a China traveler ....- 3. Turning tides in the West: From willingness to learn toward fear, envy, and bashing – and back again?.- 4. Learning to comprehend China means comprehending ourselves.- Part II: From a poor developing country to a leading nation. Structures and processes of social and economic success and robustness.- 5. “A Planned Economy? Oh gosh!” Yes, but different: Where plans are not just election-campaign fakes – The 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025): Grand development objectives and mobilizations, the 15th FYP and long-range planning toward 2035, governance reforms and “China Experimentation”.- 6. “Economy, Finance, and Money? A state-subsidized economy!” Also different: Economy and finance, technology and skills, the deep structure of robust development – Agile industrial policy, banking, regulation and deregulation, state and “market”, cracking down on Big-Tech, real-estate, and finance oligopolies.- 7. “State Ownership? Help!” But different from what you expect: Agile state firms, diverse ownership forms and business models, entrepreneurship and start-ups, and a sharing economy.- 8. “Distribution? Only poor wretches and billionaires!” Income growth and downward redistribution: Poverty elimination, wage increases, tax cuts, purchasing power, and inclusion – A middle-income nation emerging, and pressure on oligopolies and billionaires.- 9. “Labor? Slave work!” Labor and social dynamics: Labor rights and worker activity, social security and health care, migrant workers and “Hukou”, social mobilization, women's emancipation, and population policy.- 10. “Places and Housing? Poor villages and monster cities!” Rural catch-up and regional convergence, new cooperation regions, green and livable mega-cities, new forests around new skyscrapers, the network of green cities, accessible public services, local participation and self-governance.- 11. “Ecology? Biggest polluter!” From the dependent work bench of the West to ecological world-champion – Renewable-energy networks, intelligent grids and batteries, new-energy mobility, new forests, reversing desertification, and the “Ant Forest” app, ahead of 2035 goals, improving air and climate for the world, towards an eco-civilization.- 12. “Democracy? Dictatorship!” Anti-corruption, rule of law, privacy protection, and “Credible China” – Internet and everyday behavior.- 13. “A Multiethnic Country? Concentration camps, police state, genocide!” China's nationalities and minorities, self-governed, multicultural, and multi-religious: Free traveling through Tibet or Xinjiang – and the political struggles within and around Taiwan and Hong Kong.- 14. “Peaceful Coexistence, New Diplomacy, and New Silk Roads? New Imperialism!” The other globalization: South-South cooperation in the UN, Shanghai Cooperation Organization+, BRICS+, New Silk Road/BRI, Africa and Latin America, South China Sea and West Pacific military buildup, foreign trade and investment – and a new immigration wave.- Part III: “It’s the system, stupid!” Many Construction Sites, Many Building Blocks, Toward Another Future: The “Mosaic” and “System”.- 15. What Kind of System? “Communism”? “Turbo Capitalism”? “State Capitalism”? “Socialist Market Economy”? “Autocracy”? Or what? – Sorting out the conceptual and analytical confusion.- 16. “I Don't Know It; I Don't Need It!” – A new and significant kind of socialism for the 21st Century: Different from what we believe, different from anything we knew before, different from what we are told.- 17. Structural Problem Areas and Prospects of Chinese Development.