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Thread: The China Fantasy

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[quote=ICEBLUE,256044]For someone who was stationed in China in the 1980s as a correspondent for the Los Angeles Times and who has kept abreast of situations here ever since, Mann thinks in extremely broad strokes. Everything is black and white. If China does A, it is morally good; if B, bad, and the US should follow with C, etc. No room for nuances and complexities. Calibration could well be performed with a computer program. And I apologize to computer programmers everywhere because they incorporate more degrees of possibilities. 
    Admittedly, this book targets China hands in the US, especially those who advocate continued 'engagement' or 'integration' with China. Mann is impatient with them because what they preach is naivety at best and outright lies at worst. To dispel this thick cloud, he poses a 'Third Scenario', in which China's economy grows by leaps and bounds but the political issues he is concerned with remain unchanged.

'Americans have frequently formed their views of China on the basis of limited or skewed information,' writes Mann. He couldn't be more right. Unfortunately, he is one of them. He is so fixated on one issue that everything else is probably just a blur. To paraphrase questions he asked of others: Has he talked to migrant workers hundreds of them? Has he traveled to inland areas and gauged the sentiments of Chinese farmers? Has he browsed a Chinese website and pondered what millions of the young have in mind? 
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