| book details |

The Rise and Fall of the EAST: How Exams, Autocracy, Stability, and Technology Brought China Success, and Why They Might Lead to Its Decline

By (author) Yasheng Huang

| on special |

normal price: R 675.95

Price: R 641.95

| add to trolley |

| book description |

The long history of Chinaâ€™s relationship between stability, diversity, and prosperity, and how its current leadership threatens this delicate balance Â â€œRiveting.â€â€”Tunku Varadarajan, Wall Street Journal Â A Foreign Affairs Best Book of 2023 Â Chinese society has been shaped by the interplay of the EASTâ€”exams, autocracy, stability, and technologyâ€”from ancient times through the present. Beginning with the Sui dynastyâ€™s introduction of the civil service exam, known as Keju, in 587 CEâ€”and continuing through the personnel management system used by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)â€”Chinese autocracies have developed exceptional tools for homogenizing ideas, norms, and practices. But this uniformity came with a huge downside: stifled creativity. Â Yasheng Huang shows how China transitioned from dynamism to extreme stagnation after the Keju was instituted. Chinaâ€™s most prosperous periods, such as during the Tang dynasty (618â€“907) and under the reformist CCP, occurred when its emphasis on scale (the size of bureaucracy) was balanced with scope (diversity of ideas). Â Considering Chinaâ€™s remarkable success over the past half-century, Huang sees signs of danger in the political and economic reversals under Xi Jinping. The CCP has again vaulted conformity above new ideas, reverting to the Keju model that eventually led to technological decline. It is a lesson from Chinaâ€™s own history, Huang argues, that Chinese leaders would be wise to take seriously.

| product details |

| other options |

Normally shipped | Forthcoming. Coming into print soon, we are accepting back orders for this item
Readership Age |

Normal Price | R 681.95
Price | R 647.95 | on special |

| add to trolley |

| back |

| your trolley |

To view the items in your trolley please sign in.

| sign in |

| specials |

The Ballerina and the Bull: Anarchist Utopias in the Age of Finance

Johanna Isaacson
Paperback / softback
288 pages
was: R 306.95
now: R 275.95
This title will take longer to obtain, and should be delivered in 6-8 weeks

Our moment has seen the resurgence of an anarchist sensibility, from the uprisings in Seattle in 1999 to the Occupy movement of 2011.

| more |

| add to trolley |

Bonsai Success in Southern Africa

Carl Morrow
Paperback / softback
160 pages
was: R 320.95
now: R 288.95
Stock is usually dispatched in 6-12 days from date of order

In this uniquely Southern African book, Carl Morrow and Keith Kirsten guide readers step by step into the magical realms of bonsai as a hobby, horticultural practice and art form.

| more |

| add to trolley |

Fifteen Dogs

AndrÃ© Alexis
Paperback / softback
176 pages
was: R 280.95
now: R 252.95
Available from overseas. Dispatched in aprox 4-8 weeks as local supplier is out of stock

A pack of dogs are granted the power of human thought - but what will it do to them? A surprising and insightful look at the beauty and perils of consciousness.

| more |

| add to trolley |