”China’s New Order,” three essays on recent development in that country by Wang Hui, is an interesting and comprehensive critique of China’s Promethean reform movement and its unique form of Leninist capitalism.
Mr. Wang, editor of the journal Dushu (Reading) and a research professor at Qinghua University in Beijing, is one of the few Chinese intellectuals to have openly challenged the presumption that economic reform is sufficient without political reform. But be warned. As bold and as path breaking as Mr. Wang’s critical voice is, his overly academic and theoretical approach makes this a tough read.