Introduction

The emergence of China as a great power is perhaps the most consequential development for the world in the 21st century. Yet, what the Western world sees in this development is largely through the prism of misinterpreted ideological dichotomy and misguided geopolitical rivalry. This book offers a deep look at the Chinese Communist Party and the nation it leads at conceptual, historic, and operational levels. If Thomas Kuhn’s concept of paradigm shift can be used in the social sciences, then China would represent the most significant anomaly to the dominant liberal exemplar. For students of China and of politics in general, and for the Western political and commercial elites, if they were to read one book about China to grasp the nature and weight of the Chinese phenomenon, Party Life would be it.