Wang Hui

Wang Hui is a professor at Qinghua University in Beijing. He is editor of the magazine Duzhu and has written an excellent book looking at the forces shaping modern China and the challenges that lie ahead - it's called "The New Model China". You can ask Pat in the library if she can get it for you.

The book is in three parts:

Firstly, it identifies the groups that are forcing the pace of change in China:
- Intellectuals and students seeking a more open society
- Workers in the cities seeking greater social security and better public services
- Business people seeking more opportunities

Secondly, it identifies the problems facing modern China
- Institutional corruption
- Growing inequality
- The changing role of government

Finally, it considers what may be the best approaches to solving the conflicts that exist such as
- Traditional v Modern approaches
- City v Country
- The role of the nation-state in a globalised world

The emphasis throughout the book is on the need for humanism (considering the needs of the individual and the community) and the importance of pursuing development policies that we have come to describe as supply-side polcies.

Wang Hui covered most of these topics in a lecture he gave at the LSE in London last year and if you want to gain an overview of what's happening in modern China, this is a good place to start.