Understanding Modern China: Whence It Came, Where It’s Heading

by

Prof Zhang Weiwei
Director
China Institute at Fudan University

Overview

Today’s China is a large country undergoing very rapid change. The pace and extent of its transformation – and its development as a major global power – is unprecedented, exerting a corresponding impact on the rest of the world. Perhaps the greatest change within China is its rapid economic growth, which is now past its fourth consecutive decade and approaching the half-century mark. There have also been social, political and technological reforms, but with economic change at their core. Despite a relative cooling of its economy lately, China’s rise remains evident. How might countries in East Asia and other major powers relate to a rising China poised to be the world’s newest superpower? In particular, how does China choose to relate to them? In a modernising China that continues to confound even growing expectations of its potential and achievements, understanding its trajectory and destination is vital to Asia and the world.