Bureaucracy, Economy, and Leadership in China: The Institutional Origins of the Great Leap Forward Book

This book is a worthwhile read for anyone looking from outside to truly change their lens through which they view the Middle Kingdom. The one critical thing the book does really well is in establishing from the get-go the biggest mistake westerners make when viewing China - that the Chinese people's concerns must be very similar to theirs since they are rapidly growing into being more like the capitalist west. This is completely flawed. With that understanding, the book does center on key topics of labor rights, product safety, censorship (esp. internet), and the rule of law to elaborate on the challenges and the opportunities.

I thought it started out pretty riveting with Tiananmen and how that ties to the rest of the book, but I found that each succeeding chapters became rather boring and repetitive. I found myself thinking after I finished a chapter, 'I could summarize that in 1 paragraph.' I don't know if it's because of the academic background, but he repeats the concepts way too many times. For example, in the last chapter discussing the Rule of Law, he talks of how ordinary Chinese citizens are bravely confronting the government using the ALL and how the western businesses need to follow suit, and does so about half a dozen times. Then the last chapter discussing two chinas, it's rehashed all-over again.

He did have some good examples, but I thought it was lacking overall. Maybe including more interviews and examples would've given it some zing. But more importantly, maybe some counter arguments could've been introduced because it seems too much of one theory over and over again.

Probably a good book to highlight and reference later on but not quite a thrilling read.