timely book: global economy in the Chinese age

A Chinese journalist tells inside stories about China and globalization.

New book: China's global reach: markets, multinationals, and globalization

Author: George Zhibin Gu
Publisher: Trafford; 256 pages.

About the Book

China is on the rise! A fast developing China is altering the global
map. Get the inside story—from a Chinese commentator-business
strategist—of China’s emergence as a global economic leader!

An internationally renowned economist, the late Professor Andre Gunder
Frank (1929-2005), called China’s Global Reach: Markets,
Multinationals, Globalization a “marvelously real-life brass-tacks
examination of China’s participation in the world economy today and
probably tomorrow.” Author Dr. George Zhibin Gu gathers personal
experiences together with solid research to present an in-depth
discussion of a changing China and a changing world. From foreign
multinationals’ effect to the emergence of domestic markets, this
in-depth book charts the economic and political development in and out
of China and what it means for the world’s future.

Most
authors on this subject have little direct experience, or if they do,
they don’t have the intellectual and global knowledge to make true
sense of it. China’s Global Reach: Markets, Multinationals,
Globalization gives you an insider’s look at key issues from a veteran
commentator and business professional on the ground in China. Our world
stands at a critical point; this book comprehensively details global
economic, business, and political trends with particular focus on how
to shape a better future for all nations.

China’s Global
Reach: Markets, Multinationals, Globalization explores: >The
ever-increasing influence of foreign multinationals in China >China
as a global manufacturing center, top trading nation, and market
>The international experience in China >The emergence of business
education within China >The successes—and failures—of international
businesses in China >Pricing and its impact on the world >The
ever-expanding power of Chinese companies >How China can achieve
meaningful restructuring >Employment issues within China and around
globe >Global expansions and mega-companies >Great convergence of
global civilizations >And more—including an afterword by Andre
Gunder Frank!

China’s Global Reach: Markets, Multinationals,
Globalization is an insightful, open-minded, and significant overview
of a changing world in relation to a fast-developing China. It is a
book perfect for professionals, researchers, policy makers, educators,
and students, as well as for anyone who questions how the world will
move ahead to the next stages.

Reviews

“Offers a broad view of Chinese multinationals on the global stage.”—Contemporary History Association

“A rigorous view from an INSIDER.”—GurusOnline Magazine

“A Best Seller.”—Janela Na Web

This book suggests that a new global power balance will emerge gradually and most likely indirectly.—Expresso Weekly

“Brilliant and very timely. . . . For any international businessman
coming to China: get this book, read it and think. The author brings to
this book a great deal of personal experience and direct involvement
with China’s economic development and dramatic changes in the business
world and beyond. His impressive international experience, coupled with
his work in China, add great strength to his discussion of China’s rise
in relation to global development.”—Dr. Li Weiwei, Managing Director,
Western Securities, China

“This book is full of insights and
vivid discussions on key economic, business, and social issues. It is
very well written for the general public, and is highly recommended for
anyone interested in gaining a broad understanding of global
development and a rising China”—Professor Chen Ping, Professor and
Deputy Director, China Centre for Economic Research, Peking University;
Research Associate, University of Texas at Austin

“This book
"has on the cover a colored picture of skyscrapers, symbols of the new
China the book describes. Upward mobility used to be primarily an
American social phenomenon, but it has become global ⋯ George Zhibin Gu
opens his book with "Growing Up in China", an account of the hardships
suffered during the disastrous Great Leap Forward, when there was
nationwide starvation in China. During the Cultural Revolution,
education was neglected, and schools were in a lamentable state. Then
China changed, and Gu was able to go to Nanjing University and
subsequently to the US, where he studied at the University of Michigan,
earning two MS degrees and a Ph.D. The US was in a depression when he
arrived, and many people were desperate, so he saw the darker side of
capitalism.

His book is divided into four parts:
1. China as a New Global Theater
2. China's New International Experience
3. China's Reform at Home: The Unfinished Task
4. Globalization in Light of History.

Some Americans welcome China's bursting onto the world scene, while
others are frightened by it, and their response to it will vary
accordingly. We hear much about censorship in China, but in Part 3, Gu
discusses China's problems with some candor. Perhaps the fact that the
book was published in English in Canada was a factor in this.

The full title of Part 4 is "Globalization in Light of History: The
Rise of European Power; The American Century; Japan's Global Reach;
China's Sustained Growth; Great Convergence; Future Challenges". Much
of it is a conversation among three fictitious characters: Tom, Jack
and George. They take up the history of globalization, beginning with
Columbus.

There is an "Afterword" by Andre Gunder Frank,
author of ReOrient (1400-1800) and its planned sequel- ReOrient in the
19th Century. His thesis is that China wax predominant in the world's
economy until at least 1800, and that its decline did not take place
until after the Taiping Rebellion (1851-64) and the Second Opium War
(1860). This is not the conventional view in the West, but it makes the
Chinese feel they are recovering their lost glory. In my ignorance
about this, I take no position, but it fits in with our "Learning
History" project. What do Chinese history books say about this?"” —
Professor Ronald Hilton, Fellow of Hoover Institute at Stanford
University; Chairman of World Association of International Studies

“George Gu's China's Global Reach is a compact, yet highly insightful,
contribution to our knowledge about, understanding of and debates on a
number of cutting edge developments of interest to a wide range of
observers, scholars and practitioners. The book is subtitled markets,
multinationals and globalization, but is of relevance to a far wider
range of considerations.

Every now and again, everyone comes
across an especially worthwhile account of relevance to the issues of
either globalization or China, and Gu's book is one of these, but with
the added bonus of being about the rapidly unfolding and highly
important relationship between the two. The book is packed to the brim
with valuable information, analysis and argument of interest, and which
occasionally excites, the reader of whatever kind. Gu's message on the
evolution of China in relation to and at the forefront of global
patterns, processes and trends will leave the reader much the wiser.
The reader will come away convinced about the major part that China is
on the road to playing in the emerging globalized world, and so in all
our lives, whether at work, rest or play. Quite simply, Gu's book is a
pleasure to read, and should be on all bookshelves.” — Dr. Paul Close,
Centre for the Study of Globalization and Regionalization, University
of Warwick, UK

About the Author

George Zhibin Gu was
educated at Nanjing University, Vanderbilt University, and the
University of Michigan. He holds two MS and a Ph.D. from the University
of Michigan.

Since 1990, he has been an investment banker and
business consultant. He has worked for the last 15 years in the
investment world with a focus on China. His work focuses on helping
international businesses to invest in China and the Chinese companies
to expand overseas. He has worked for Prudential Securities, Lazard,
and State Street Bank, among others. He generally covers mergers and
acquisitions, venture capital, business expansion and restructuring.

Also, he is a popular commentator and journalist on political,
economic, and business issues. His articles or columns have appeared in
Asia Times, Beijing Review, The Seoul Times, Financial Sense, Gurus
Online, Money Week, Online Opinion, Asia Venture Capital Journal, and
Sinomania, among others. He is the author of two additional books,
China Beyond Deng—Reforms in the PRC (McFarland, 1991) and Made in
China – Players and Challengers in the 21st Century (Portuguese
edition, Centro Atlantico, 2005). He now resides in Guangdong, China.