New Book: China's Global Reach: Markets, Multinationals, and Globalization

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

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 Zhubin 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