Why Communist China isn't Collapsing

Reviews / Votes

This work by Feng Sun and Wanfa Zhang seeks to provide the reader with an overview of the various factors contributing to the political survival of the Chinese party-state. The book is an interesting work to reflect upon and provides an introduction into the various debates and concepts surrounding the CPC's rule over China. * Europe-Asia Studies * Challenging Western scholars and journalists who foresee China's collapse, Sun (Troy Univ.) and Zhang (Florida Institute of Technology) propose that communist leadership has devised a resilient, flexible system through what they call "Comcapitalism," a blend of capitalism and socialism, and "Comfucianism," a graft of traditional values on to Party rule. Coercion remains, but officials "channel mass discontent into constructive activities" that address local issues. Clever, but is it a stable, long-term solution? The authors present empirical data showing that most Chinese are content and patriotic, and they refute the Western modernization theory that economic growth forms a middle class and thus leads to democracy. That scenario, they write, does not fit Chinese history and culture. Sun and Zhang deem factionalism, corruption, and labor and peasant unrest under control. This book was published a little too early to include Xi Jinping's tightening and reemphasis on state-owned enterprises and difficulties with debt, Xinjiang, and Hong Kong. Middle-way communist experiments (e.g., those of Tito and Gorbachev) alternated between loose and tight, never finding stability. This is now possibly China's pattern. The authors' offer a testable proposition: if the Beijing regime endures without systemic upheaval, they will have been proven right. . . Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. * Choice Reviews * "Why has the Chinese Communist Party not collapsed? The answer is simple: because it has gained the trust of the people. Why has it gained the trust of the people? The answer is complex and this book sheds much light; it is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand contemporary Chinese politics." -- Daniel A. Bell, Shandong University, author of The China Model "Why Communist China Isn't Collapsing attempts to explain the survival of the Chinese Communist regime. The authors argue that its legitimacy has a solid foundation in terms of Chinese political theory and political culture. As China now faces a deteriorating domestic and international environment, their thesis deserves careful consideration by those concerned with its future." -- Joseph Y.S. Cheng, City University of Hong Kong "This book is a timely overview of the factors behind China's remarkable economic success and rise to power that challenges conventional wisdom predicting either the collapse or democratization of China. While drawing on, and often dismissing the relevance of the western academic literature and theories, Sun and Zhang present a detailed insiders' view of state-society relations that is largely sympathetic to the leadership role of the Chinese Communist Party as a responsive authoritarian regime." -- Randall Peerenboom, retired professor of law, University of California, Los Angeles, and author of China Modernizes: Threat to the West or Model for the Rest?