Overreach cover art

Overreach

How China Derailed Its Peaceful Rise

Preview

Audible Standard 30-day free trial

Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection.
Listen to your selected audiobooks as long as you're a member.
Get unlimited access to bingeable podcasts.
Standard auto renews for £5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Overreach

By: Susan L. Shirk
Narrated by: Teri Schnaubelt
Try Standard free

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

About this listen

For three decades after Mao's death in 1976, China's leaders adopted a restrained approach to foreign policy. To facilitate the country's inexorable economic ascendance, and to prevent a backlash, they reassured the outside world of China's peaceful intentions.

Then, as Susan Shirk shows, something changed. China went from fragile superpower to global heavyweight. Combining her decades of research and experience, Shirk, one of the world's most respected experts on Chinese politics, argues that we are now fully embroiled in a new cold war.

As she shows, the shift toward confrontation began in the mid-2000s under the mild-mannered Hu Jintao. When Xi Jinping took power in 2012, he capitalized on widespread official corruption and open splits in the leadership to make the case for more concentrated power at the top. Those who implement Xi's directives compete to outdo one another, provoking an even greater global backlash and stoking jingoism within China on a scale not seen since the Cultural Revolution.

Here is a devastatingly lucid portrait of China today. Understanding the domestic roots of China's actions will enable us to avoid the mistakes that could lead to war.

©2023 Susan L. Shirk (P)2023 Tantor
Asia China Politics & Government World Socialism Capitalism War Soviet Union Military Taxation Leadership 21st Century Imperialism Imperial Japan Cold War
All stars
Most relevant
Asides from the narrator’s voice being quite painful for me, i have tried a number of times to listen to this. I found it ‘unpentrat-able’ and perhaps a better read than one for listening to

Shrill narrator, unfollowable narrative

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.