China's uncertain future / Jean-Luc Domenach ; translated by George Holoch.

Originally published in French under title: La Chine m'inquiète. Paris : Perrin, c2008.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 177-181) and index.

Introduction: the new "Chinese moment" -- Book I. Measure for Measure -- The Regime's New Foundations -- In a New World -- The Magnitude and Weaknesses of Growth -- Book II. The Acid Test -- Explanation -- The Acceleration of History -- Book III. The Great Riddles of the Future -- Can China Be Governed -- One People -- Will China Finally Discover the World? -- What Does China Want? -- China's Great Challenge -- Afterword: China moves toward a consumer economy.

Based on his experience as a scholar and diplomat stationed in China, Jean-Luc Domenach consults a wealth of archival and recent materials to examine China's contemporary and future place in the world. A sympathetic yet critical observer, Domenach brings his intimate knowledge of the country to bear on a range of critical issues, such as the growth (or deterioration) of China's economy, the government's ever-delayed democratization, the potential outcomes of a national political crisis, and the possible escalation of a revamped authoritarianism. Domenach ultimately reads China's current progress as a set of easy accomplishments presaging a more difficult era of development to come. His finely nuanced analysis captures the difficult decisions now confronting China's elite, who are under tremendous pressure to support an economy based on innovation and consumption, establish a political system based on law and popular participation, rethink their national identity and spatial organization, and define a more positive approach to the world's problems. These leaders are also besieged by corruption among their ranks, an increasingly restless urban population, and a sharp decline in the country's demographic growth. Domenach uniquely taps into these anxieties and the attempt to alleviate them, revealing a China much less confident and secure than many would believe.

Translated from the French.