Wealth and Power: China’s Long March to the Twenty-First Century

Wealth and Power: China’s Long March to the Twenty-First Century by Orville Schell and John Delury

How does one begin to write the history of a country and manage to contain it all in one volume? I would daresay a task is impossible; especially for a country that has been in existence for thousands of years. Truth be told, this book is not an actual history of China, yet this isn’t really the authors’ intentions.  The purpose of this book is to show how a once isolated, maligned country could rise from the depths of humiliation and subjugation and become, arguably, the most prosperous nation of the 21st century.  To tell this story accurately, a fair amount of history needs to be told, though.  What is China’s past? What were the seeds that allowed them to grow? And most importantly, who were the key figures that planted these seeds?

This book does a splendid job of telling the history of China (starting around the 1850s during the Opium Wars) through the eyes of some of the keenest minds and instigators within the country.  This really is a magnificent way of telling a story without allowing the reader to become immersed with too much minutiae and daily comings and goings that can weigh one down.  Each chapter in this magnificent work serves as a sort of ‘Cliff’s Notes’ version of a period in the history of China, telling about the key events that would continue to shape the country. Since the focus of each chapter is also on a key player, we’re exposed to many of the normalcies and behaviors of the population as well.  The authors do such a magnificent job, that I was tempted to read a complete biography on each key figure from each chapter.

So roughly 170 years of history is told, and only about the last 25 could be looked at as marginally successful.  China, from about 1850 through about 1980, is looked at as backwards, unsophisticated, and a far cry from a world power.  What makes this book fascinating is the key insiders within the country realize this as well.  They know the worldview of China isn’t positive nor powerful, and they realize that changes must be made.  And these changes are slow. Boy are they slow. In fact, you have to admire the patience and perseverance of many of these nineteenth and early twentieth century figures .  They’re convinced they’re contributing to the future success of China, but know that the changes being implemented are no guarantee for success, and they know that if these changes are successful, they won’t see results any time soon. In other words, they know that the changes won’t happen until long after they’ve been dead and buried.  Is this a trait unique to those indigenous to Far-Eastern culture?  As an American, I have to believe so to a point.  I can’t imagine many in my country trying to radically change the direction of the country without some sort of instant gratification.

When China is ravished by neighboring Japan during World War 2, a present-day resident probably couldn’t help thinking that all of the changes so far were for naught. Especially when the turmoil gives rise to the bloodthirsty despot Mao Zedong. Mao manages to ravage his homeland by starving and killing the masses as he believes it will somehow encourage and inspire proletariat unification that will allow his homeland to finally rise through the ashes.  What’s a bit scary is that the authors suggest that Mao might have, in a strange way, succeeded at his goal. Most on the outside looking in, however, would conclude that the price that was paid was far too high. Although this book devotes two chapters to Mao (most other key figures only get one), there’s not a terrible amount of detail focusing on the atrocities of his regime during his so-called “Great Leap Forward”.  We’re not exposed to the mass starvation, executions, and brutality of his regime. Oh sure, we read that it happened, but we’re not really allowed a front row seat.

It’s after Mao’s depth that this book (and China itself) becomes the most interesting. Deng Xiaoping, Mao’s “successor” also gets an additional chapter devoted to him and the particular time in history, and I thought the chapters devoted to Deng were the most fascinating of the entire book.  Deng, like Russia’s Nikita Khrushchev, realizes that he’s succeeding a bloodthirsty dictator, and humanitarian changes must be made to achieve China’s overall goal. Like Khrushchev, though, Deng doesn’t go nearly far enough.  It was during his reign when the infamous Tiananmen Square incident took place in 1989.  Deng’s most arduous goal for his country is for economic strength and not necessarily human rights.  So although the country rises in economic power globally within the next few decades, the notion of ‘equality for everyone’ takes a significant backseat.

In fact, the focus on economics as opposed to humanitarianism seems to be the focus of the last chapter or two of this book. The authors seem to stress to us that China has made significant strides financially, yet they still have quite a ways to go if they want to be looked at as ‘equals’ among the more philanthropic nations. The authors even hypothesize that China’s sprouting growth towards wealth and power might, in fact, be short lived if humanitarian changes remain slow and infrequent.  This leads the reader to admire China’s economic growth, but there’s far too many warts for one to become impressed overall. Ironically the words in this book’s title “Wealth and Power” are looked at favorably from a monetary, hedonistic perspective, but those who know history know that these two words don’t come close to equaling success from a moralistic perspective.  This is crucial that the reader doesn’t miss this. 

I loved this book. This is one of those rare books that I’m sure I’ll one day re-read. It was incredibly easy to understand and assimilate. It also taught so many valuable lessons of human nature of the past, present, and even the future.  This book is a great starting point for those who might not follow current events closely yet have recently noticed that China seems to be in the headlines an awful lot.  This book does a magnificent job of telling you the how and the why.