China Fantasy

by James Mann

In The China Fantasy, former Los Angeles Times Beijing Bureau Chief James Mann challenges the assumptions that have guided American policy toward China for more than three decades.

According to Mann, Americans believe wrongly that with increasing prosperity and with the arrival of McDonald’s and Starbucks, China will move inevitably toward political liberalization and democracy.  Moreover, Mann strongly holds to the notion that U.S. leaders suggest, with waning conviction, that trade and investment will eventually bring an end to China’s one-party system.

Mann argues that this is merely a new version of the old fallacy that the Chinese are becoming like us. In fact, Mann suggests, the newly enriched elites in cities like Beijing and Shanghai could turn out to be not the vanguard for democracy, but the driving force in favor of perpetuating an authoritarian regime.