Energy: China's Choke Point
The development of China is nothing short of breathtaking, but energy, which is in short domestic supply, will almost certainly choke the country's future economic progress. There is an urgent need for an energy plan, and that plan will have to be conceived in a manner outside conventional thinking. The good news is that the Chinese can accomplish this, in part because they are essentially in virgin territory. To map out the way forward, they will have to move in their own unique way. Imitating the US, which has been practically their undisguised raison d'etre, will not work.
As China has reinvented itself, from the time Deng Xiaoping became its Paramount Leader, it has not forgotten its post-World War II past. An event planned for Oct. 1, 2009, commemorates the 60th anniversary of the birth of the "New China," a.k.a. the People's Republic of China (PRC). Though the new communist China may have buried the memory of Mao Zedong to a large extent, it continues to honor his creation. More than 200,000 people were expected to participate in recognizing the anniversary of the PRC at an event in Tiananmen Square in Beijing.
In his book, Economides examines Mao Zedong's impact on today's China, explaining how the influence of Chairman Mao - who led the Communist Party of China to victory against the Kuomintang in the Chinese Civil War and was the leader of the PRC from its establishment in 1949 until his death in 1976 - is felt in modern China. A close look at the legacy of Mao's Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution provides insight into Chinese culture that helps not only to define today's China, but allows a glimpse into China's future.
336-pages
Economides' The Color of Oil and Soviet to Putin and Back are also available at the Hart Store.