The End of the Chinese Dream; Why Chinese People Fear the Future

by Gerard Lemos

• ISBN13: 9780300169249
• ISBN10: 0300169248
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2012-07-30
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

Glossy television images of happy, industrious, and increasingly prosperous workers show a bright view of life in twenty-first-century China. But behind the officially approved story is a different reality. Preparing this book Gerard Lemos asked hundreds of Chinese men and women living in Chongqing, an industrial mega-city, about their wishes and fears. The lives they describe expose the myth of China's harmonious society. Hundreds of millions of everyday people in China are beleaguered by immense social and health problems as well as personal, family, and financial anxietieswhile they watch their communities and traditions being destroyed. Lemos investigates a China beyond the foreigners' beaten track. This is a revealing account of the thoughts and feelings of Chinese people regarding all facets of their lives, from education to health care, unemployment to old age, politics to wealth. Taken together, the stories of these men and women bring to light a broken society, one whose people are frustrated, angry, sad, and often fearful about the circumstances of their lives. The author considers the implications of these findings and analyzes how China's community and social problems threaten the ambitious nation's hopes for a prosperous and cohesive future. Lemos explains why protests will continue and a divided and self-serving leadership will not make people's dreams come true.

Author Biography

Gerard Lemos is a social policy expert and frequent advisor to governments, businesses, and charities. He was acting chairman of the British Council and was a visiting professor at Chongqing Technical University between 2006 and 2010. He lives in London.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. vi
Acknowledgements	p. vii
Introduction	p. 1
Getting Nowhere in China	p. 4
Chongqing	p. 16
Chaos, Reform and Inequality	p. 31
The Wish Tree	p. 59
The Chinese Dream	p. 82
Unhappy Families	p. 104
Educational Pressure, Hope and Despair	p. 129
Failing Health	p. 151
Lifelong Financial Insecurity	p. 170
Exodus from the Suffering Land	p. 184
Losers and their Losses	p. 196
Trauma without Recovery	p. 220
The Power of the Powerless	p. 233
Plutocrats in the Leviathan	p. 252
Afterword: What next for China?	p. 272
Notes	p. 275
Bibliography	p. 286
Index	p. 293
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