The Odds on China:
Predictions on its Future?
A Book Review on “China
Road: A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power” by Rob Gifford
May 5, 2008
EC 230
In recent years,
it has been impossible to open an American newspaper and not find China as a
prominent part of current events. In recent weeks, China has flooded Western
newswires with stories about the country’s role in the skyrocketing oil and
commodity prices; stories about China’s violent response to Tibetan protests;
and as recently as the time of the writing of this review, China’s efforts to
expand its naval fleet. The Western response to the rise of China as a global
superpower has been mixed. Some believe that China and its economic prowess are
here to stay, and that China’s role in the world economy is necessary for
global economic prosperity (China’s sovereign investment fund bailed out
several of America’s top financial institutions). Others argue that China is a
looming threat to surrounding nations, to the environment, to the ethnic
minorities within its borders, and to other superpowers – namely, the United
States. In China Road, the author, Rob Gifford, recounts his
observations and experiences as he travels from Shanghai to the western extreme
of the vast country that is China. Gifford’s journey is instrumental in
explaining why neither of the viewpoints above is the absolute correct answer.
One quickly
realizes that ….
