Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 266
•
Trim: 6⅜ x 9¼
978-1-4422-3622-6 • Hardback • November 2014 • $56.00 • (£43.00)
Marte Kjær Galtung is a China analyst at the Norwegian Defence Staff. She has previously worked on China with the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs; as a cultural attaché at the Norwegian embassy in Beijing, and subsequently on the Norwegian government’s China strategy. She is the author of China: People, History, Politics, and Culture.
Stig Stenslie is head of the Asia Branch of the Norwegian Defence Staff. He has been visiting scholar at, among others, the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies, National University in Singapore, and Columbia University in New York. He is the author of several books on contemporary China and the Middle East, most recently Regime Stability in Saudi Arabia: The Challenge of Succession and Stability and Change in the Modern Middle East.
Introduction
Part I: The Party
Myth 1: Communism Is Dead in China
Myth 2: China Is Centrally Controlled
Myth 3: The Leadership Is Deeply Divided
Myth 4: The Communist Party Is a Monolith
Myth 5: The Military Is Gaining Political Influence
Myth 6: The Communist Regime Lacks Legitimacy
Myth 7: The Falun Gong Is an Apolitical Movement Persecuted for Its Religious Beliefs
Myth 8: The Chinese Media Is Merely a Mouthpiece of the Communist Party
Part II: The People
Myth 9: Chinese Culture Is Incompatible with Democracy
Myth 10: Chinese Have No Manners
Myth 11: Chinese People Are Not Altruistic
Myth 12: The Individual Has No Value, Only the Collective Does
Myth 13: All Chinese Are Only Children
Myth 14: The Chinese People Are Homogeneous
Myth 15: Communism Has Created Gender Equality in China
Myth 16: The Chinese Are Atheists
Myth 17: Shanghai Is More Liberal Than Beijing
Part III: Business and the Economy
Myth 18: “China Inc.” Is Buying Up the World
Myth 19: China Has the United States over a Barrel
Myth 20: China’s Economy Is Export Driven
Myth 21: Chinese People Are Born Moneymakers
Myth 22: Chinese Don’t Take Risks
Myth 23: The Chinese Are Just Copycats
Myth 24: The State Hinders to Economic Development in China
Myth 25: Unequal Distribution of Wealth Is a Source of Social and Political Unrest
Myth 26: All Economic Development Is Happening in the Big Cities on the East Coast
Part IV: China and the World
Myth 27: The Chinese Are Racist
Myth 28: The Communist Party Is Kindling Nationalism
Myth 29: China Will Once Again Dominate East Asia
Myth 30: China Is Colonizing Africa
Myth 31: China Is an Environmental Baddie
Myth 32: The Chinese Could Tame North Korea—if They Wanted To
Myth 33: China Does Not Interfere in Other States’ Internal Affairs
Part V: The Past
Myth 34: China’s History Spans Five Millennia
Myth 35: China Is Called the “Middle Kingdom” Because Chinese People Believe Their Country Is the Center of the World
Myth 36: China Discovered the World in 1421
Myth 37: All Women Were Oppressed in Ancient China
Myth 38: China Has No Warrior Culture
Myth 39: Chinese History Goes in Circles
Myth 40: Tibet Was a Shangri-la until the Chinese Came
Myth 41: Mao Was a Monster
Myth 42: The Chinese Do Not Care about Their Own Historical Heritage
Part VI: The Future
Myth 43: The Internet Will Topple the Communist Party
Myth 44: The End of the Communist Regime Is Near
Myth 45: The Chinese Are Masters of Long-Term Thinking
Myth 46: The RMB Will Eclipse the Dollar as the World’s Reserve Currency
Myth 47: China Is a Military Threat
Myth 48: Chinese Will Replace English as the World’s Language
Myth 49: The Twenty-First Century Belongs to China
Notes on Transliteration
Bibliography
From the foreword:
Galtung and Stenslie offer a spirited, enjoyable way to improve our insight. It will be a rare reader who doesn’t believe, perhaps unconsciously, in quite a few of the myths skewered in this book. Test yourself by looking at the table of contents and asking how you would disprove these propositions before you go on to read what the authors say. Then see how Galtung and Stenslie correct your mistakes. But don’t worry. They will not make you feel stupid, because they offer not opposing myths but nuanced truths. Their deft approach will be fun for beginners and informative for experts. At the end of reading their forty-ninth essay, one will stand disabused of a bonus, fiftieth myth: the dangerous idea that outsiders cannot understand China.
— Andrew J. Nathan, Columbia University