The Broken China Dream |
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11 April 2026 - Schweiz
Minxin Pei grew up in China before immigrating to the US to study political science. Thus he able to give somewhat of an insider's view of history in The Broken China Dream. As one might suspect from the title, it is not a happy book. Pei lays responsibility for the rise of Xi Jinping squarely at Deng Xiaopeng's feet. While we often credit Deng with China's transition to a mostly capitalist economy, Pei reminds us that he did it to preserve one party rule by the communists. And that the levers of totalitarianism were left waiting for a leader like Xi to seize them. Tiananmen showed that the transition to democracy is not inevitable, and Pei is definitely not in the "end of history" camp. Indeed, he sees the reassertion of autocracy as inevitable under the one party state despite the economic system. Sadly, after reading his book I can't help but agree with Pei.
