Tiger Head, Snake Tails: China Today, How It Got There and Where It Is Heading.

Much has been written, from diverse perspectives, about the meteoric rise of China’s economy over the past decade and how the 21st century belongs to China; that the world’s most populous country will inexorably become the dominant global superpower while the United States will struggle to play catchup. More recently, with news of a dramatic slowdown in Chinese construction sharing headline space with revelations of political scandals and infighting, it has become fashionable to predict the imminent bursting of the China bubble. Fenby (Generalissimo), a historian and journalist with decades of experience in the Far East, offers a more nuanced view in his seventh book on China. He attempts to elucidate the problems facing the country that a plurality of Americans name as the globe’s foremost economic power, along with the strategies that Beijing’s political and business leaders are relying on to overcome them. Fenby falls prey to the mania for statistics and quantitative data that permeates much recent business literature, reeling out page upon page of figures presented with precious little context. However, he is a keen observer and entertaining tour guide, and though he refuses to draw any concrete or controversial conclusions, lay readers will benefit from browsing this richly detailed account of the country’s industrial policy and economy. 27 b&w illus. Agent: Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson. (Nov.)