Book

Galtung, Marte Kjær, 1976- author.

49 myths about China / Marte Kjær Galtung and Stig Stenslie ; foreword by Andrew J. Nathan.

Lanham ; Boulder ; New York ; London : Rowman & Littlefield, [2015]

xvii, 247 pages : illustrations, map ; 24 cm

Leading an enlightening and entertaining tour, the authors debunk widespread "knowledge" about Chinese culture, society, politics, and economy. In some cases, Chinese themselves encourage mistaken impressions. But many of these myths are really about how we Westerners see ourselves, inasmuch as China or the Chinese people are depicted as what we are not. Western perceptions of the empire in the East have for centuries oscillated between sinophilia and sinophobia, influenced by historical changes in the West as much as by events in China. This timely and provocative book offers an engaging and compelling window on a rising power we often misunderstand.

China -- Miscellanea.

Stenslie, Stig, author.

49 myter om Kina. English

Forty-nine myths about China

Includes bibliographical references (pages 231-238) and index.

Translated from the Norwegian.

Part I. The party -- Myth 1: Communism is dead in China -- Myth 2: China is centrally controlled -- Myth 3: The leadership is deeply divided -- Myth 4: The Communist Party is a monolith -- Myth 5: The military is gaining political influence -- Myth 6: The Communist regime lacks legitimacy -- Myth 7: The Falun Gong is an apolitical movement that is persecuted for its religious beliefs -- Myth 8: Chinese media is just a mouthpiece of the Communist Party -- Part II. The people -- Myth 9: Chinese culture is incompatible with democracy -- Myth 10: Chinese have no manners -- Myth 11: Chinese people are not altruistic -- Myth 12: The individual has no value, only the collective does -- Myth 13: All Chinese are only children -- Myth 14: The Chinese people are homogeneous -- Myth 15: Communism has created gender equality in China -- Myth 16: The Chinese are atheists -- Myth 17: Shanghai is more liberal than Beijing -- Part III. Business and the economy -- Myth 18: "China Inc." is buying up the world -- Myth 19: China has the United States over a barrel -- Myth 20: China's economy is export-driven -- Myth 21: Chinese people are born moneymakers -- Myth 22: The Chinese don't take risks -- Myth 23: The Chinese are just copycats -- Myth 24: The state hinders economic development in China -- Myth 25: Unequal distribution of wealth is a source of social and political unrest -- Myth 26: All economic development is happening in the big cities on China's east coast -- Part IV. China and the world -- Myth 27: The Chinese are racist -- Myth 28: The Communist Party is kindling nationalism -- Myth 29: China will once again dominate East Asia -- Myth 30: China is colonizing Africa -- Myth 31: China is an environmental baddie -- Myth 32: The Chinese could tame North Korea ... if they wanted to -- Myth 33: China does not interfere in other states' internal affairs -- Part V. The past -- Myth 34: China's history spans five millennia -- Myth 35: China is called the "Middle Kingdom" because Chinese people believe their country is the center of the world -- Myth 36: China discovered the world in 1421 -- Myth 37: All women were oppressed in ancient China -- Myth 38: China has no warrior culture -- Myth 39: Chinese history goes in circles -- Myth 40: Tibet was a "Shangri-La" until the Chinese came -- Myth 41: Mao was a monster -- Myth 42: The Chinese do not care about their own historical heritage -- Part VI. The future -- Myth 43: The Internet will topple the Communist Party -- Myth 44: The end of the Communist regime is near -- Myth 45: The Chinese are masters of long-term thinking -- Myth 46: The RMB will eclipse the dollar as the world's reserve currency -- Myth 47: China is a military threat -- Myth 48: Chinese will replace English as the world's language -- Myth 49: The twenty-first century belongs to China.

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