The New Emperors Power and the Princelings in China

by Brown, Kerry

• ISBN13: 9781780769103
• ISBN10: 1780769105
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2014-08-27
• Publisher: Atlasbooks Dist Serv

Summary

How does one become the leader of the world's newest superpower? And who holds the real power in the Chinese system?
China has become the powerhouse of the world economy and home to 1 in 5 of the world's population, yet we know almost nothing of the people who lead it. In The New Emperors, the noted China expert Kerry Brown journeys deep into the heart of the Communist Party. China's system might have its roots in peasant rebellion but it is now firmly under the control of a power-conscious Beijing elite, almost half of whose members are related directly to former senior Party leaders. Brown reveals the intrigue, scandal and murder surrounding the internal battle raging between two China's: one founded by Mao on Communist principles, and a modern China in which 'to get rich is glorious'. At the centre of it all sits the latest Party Secretary, Xi Jinping - the son of a revolutionary, with links both to big business and to the People's Liberation Army. His rise to power is symbolic of the new dragons leading the world's next superpower.

Author Biography

Kerry Brown is the Director of the China Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, Australia, and former head of the Asia Programme at Chatham House. With 20 years experience of life in China, he has worked in education, business and government, including a term as First Secretary at the British Embassy in Beijing. He writes regularly for the Times Literary Supplement and the Guardian amongst others, as well as for many international and Chinese media outlets. He is the author of Contemporary China (2012), Friends and Enemies: The Past, Present and Future of the Communist Party of China (with Will Hutton, 2009) and Struggling Giant: China in the 21st Century (with Jonathan Fenby, 2007).

Table of Contents

1. On the Networked Leadership
2. The Long and Winding Road to the 18th Party Congress
3. Lives of the Leader's: Xi Jinping
4. The Politburo's First Lawyer, Premier Li Keqiang
5. The Stars Around the Two Suns: The Other Five
6. The Contradictions of Modern China: Ideology and its Role
Conclusion
Bibliography of Chinese Sources