Tiger Head, Snake Tails: China today, how it got there and why it has to change - Couverture souple

A unique and coherent picture of China's essence, evolution and future.
'China perplexes the outsider. The energy of its people defies whatever mad or venal economic system they labour under. Its culture, though ravaged, endures. Its leaders decide the fate of millions from behind their vermilion walls, imperturbable until the fall of dynasties sweeps them away. This book aims to get inside it all…This is a snapshot of where the nation is today and a quick-fire analysis of what's next. Any businessman heading for China will find the book a great briefing' Sunday Times
'Jonathan Fenby's latest book provides an excellent introduction to the problems confronting its people as they embark on the transition to the fifth generation of leadership since the Communist takeover in 1949'
Lord Patten

'Fenby, a shrewd and experienced journalist, keeps a sober head and argues that although no economic collapse imminent, the story does have plenty of negative.' Francis Wheen, Mail on Sunday
'Tiger Head Snake Tails is such a timely and brilliantly documented intervention. Jonathan Fenby brings a welter of examples of the routine corruption, inefficiency, injustice and environmental depredation that is the hallmark of today's China…Superb analysis' Will Hutton, Observer
'Pick of the crop', Financial Times
'Fenby's attempts to be comprehensive and balanced make his book an invaluable primer to the general reader who wants to mug up on China' Literary Review
'A one-stop account of where the fastest-growing major nation stands, and what it means for both China and the world' Total Politics

With the world's second-largest (and fastest expanding) economy, a population of more than 1.3 billion, a place at the core of the G20, a permanent seat on the UN Security Council and an ability to dispense cash without conditions to countries in return for the raw materials it gobbles up, China is an increasingly significant global force moving forward with shocking velocity.
But the last major nation under Communist rule also has a history of catastrophe and tragedy, tyranny and repression, abject poverty, unfair business practice and inherent corruption under a nebulous system of leadership, and now faces environmental degradation and a demographic time bomb.
In this compelling and lucid account based on years of research and first-hand experience, Jonathan Fenby links together the myriad features of today's China. He delivers a unique and coherent picture of its essence and evolution and contemplates its future - both alone and connected to the world around it.