{"title":"Minxin Pei","description":"\u003cp\u003eMinxin Pei offers a critical exploration of contemporary China through incisive political and economic analysis. His works delve into the complex realities of governance, corruption, and reform, providing readers with a nuanced understanding of China’s evolving landscape.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIdeal for those interested in \u003cem\u003ePolitics \u0026amp; Current Affairs\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eEducation \u0026amp; Reference\u003c\/em\u003e, Pei’s books challenge prevailing narratives and illuminate the forces shaping China’s future. His writing combines scholarly insight with accessible clarity, making complex issues approachable for informed readers.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"the-sentinel-state-by-minxin-pei-9780674257832","title":"The Sentinel State","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCountering recent hype around technology, a leading expert argues that the endurance of dictatorship in China owes less to facial recognition AI and GPS tracking than to the human resources of the Leninist surveillance state.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFor decades China watchers argued that economic liberalisation and increasing prosperity would bring democracy to the world's most populous country. Instead, the Communist Party's grip on power has only strengthened. Why? The answer, Minxin Pei argues, lies in the effectiveness of the Chinese surveillance state. And the source of that effectiveness is not just advanced technology like facial recognition AI and mobile phone tracking. These are important, but what matters more is China's vast, labour-intensive infrastructure of domestic spying.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eCentral government data on Chinese surveillance is confidential, so Pei turned to local reports, police gazettes, leaked documents, and interviews with exiled dissidents to provide a detailed look at the evolution, organisation, and tactics of the surveillance state. Following the 1989 Tiananmen uprising, the Chinese Communist Party invested immense resources in a coercive apparatus operated by a relatively small number of secret police officers capable of mobilising millions of citizen informants to spy on those suspected of disloyalty. The CCP's Leninist bureaucratic structure—whereby officials and party activists penetrate every sector of society and the economy, from universities and village committees to delivery companies, telecommunication firms, and Tibetan monasteries—ensures that Beijing's eyes and ears are truly everywhere.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhile today's system is far more robust than that of years past, it is modelled after mass surveillance implemented under Mao Zedong and Chinese emperors centuries ago. Rigorously empirical and rich in historical insight, \u003cem\u003eThe Sentinel State\u003c\/em\u003e is a singular contribution to our knowledge about coercion in the Chinese state and, more generally, the survival strategies of authoritarian regimes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47384051122412,"sku":"9780674257832","price":71.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/1080203482428.jpg?v=1773399955"},{"product_id":"chinas-crony-capitalism-by-minxin-pei-9780674737297","title":"China’s Crony Capitalism","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen Deng Xiaoping launched China on the path to economic reform in the late 1970s, he vowed to build \"socialism with Chinese characteristics.\" More than three decades later, China's efforts to modernise have yielded something very different from the working people's paradise Deng envisioned: an incipient kleptocracy, characterised by endemic corruption, soaring income inequality, and growing social tensions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eChina's Crony Capitalism\u003c\/i\u003e traces the origins of China's present-day troubles to the series of incomplete reforms from the post-Tiananmen era that decentralised the control of public property without clarifying its ownership.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBeginning in the 1990s, changes in the control and ownership rights of state-owned assets allowed well-connected government officials and businessmen to amass huge fortunes through the systematic looting of state-owned property—in particular land, natural resources, and assets in state-run enterprises. Mustering compelling evidence from over two hundred corruption cases involving government and law enforcement officials, private businessmen, and organised crime members, Minxin Pei shows how collusion among elites has spawned an illicit market for power inside the party-state, in which bribes and official appointments are surreptitiously but routinely traded.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis system of crony capitalism has created a legacy of criminality and entrenched privilege that will make any movement toward democracy difficult and disorderly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eRejecting conventional platitudes about the resilience of Chinese Communist Party rule, Pei gathers unambiguous evidence that beneath China's facade of ever-expanding prosperity and power lies a Leninist state in an advanced stage of decay.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47470260322540,"sku":"9780674737297","price":80.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780674737297-china-s-crony-capitalism.jpg?v=1775214869"},{"product_id":"the-sentinel-state-by-minxin-pei-9780674303553","title":"The Sentinel State","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCountering recent hype around technology, a leading expert argues that the endurance of dictatorship in China owes less to facial recognition AI and GPS tracking than to the human resources of the Leninist surveillance state.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eChina watchers long argued that economic liberalisation and prosperity would be harbingers of democracy. Instead, the Communist Party's grip has strengthened. How? The answer lies in the effectiveness of the surveillance state. And the source of that effectiveness is not just facial recognition AI and phone tracking. Technology is important, but what matters more is China's vast army of domestic spies.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eCentral government surveillance data is confidential, so Minxin Pei turned to local reports, police gazettes, leaked documents, and interviews with exiled dissidents to provide a detailed look at the evolution, organisation, and tactics of the surveillance state. Following the 1989 Tiananmen uprising, the Party invested in a coercive apparatus operated by a small number of secret police capable of mobilising millions of citizen informants. The Party's Leninist bureaucratic structure—whereby officials and activists penetrate every sector of the economy and civil society, from universities to delivery companies to monasteries—ensures that Beijing's eyes and ears are everywhere.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eRigorously empirical and rich in historical insight, \u003cem\u003eThe Sentinel State\u003c\/em\u003e is a singular contribution to our knowledge about Chinese state coercion and, more generally, the survival strategies of authoritarian regimes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47562874355948,"sku":"9780674303553","price":49.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780674303553-the-sentinel-state.jpg?v=1776989326"},{"product_id":"the-broken-china-dream-by-minxin-pei-9780691223339","title":"The Broken China Dream","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA provocative book that demystifies China’s great democratic leap backward under Xi Jinping, revealing why the country’s embrace of capitalism has given rise to hard authoritarianism, mass surveillance, and one-man rule instead of democracy as many in the West had hoped.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhen China embarked on its transformative journey of modernisation in 1979, many believed the country’s turn toward capitalism would put its totalitarian past to rest and mark the birth of a democratic, open society. Instead, China reverted to a neo-totalitarian state, one backed by one of the fastest-growing, most formidable economies on earth. \u003ci\u003eThe Broken China Dream\u003c\/i\u003e pulls back the curtain on the regime of strongman Xi Jinping, revealing why the reforms of the post-Mao era have been reversed on nearly every front – and why the world failed to see it coming.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eExposing the truth behind China’s economic ascendency after the Cultural Revolution, Minxin Pei shows how, following Mao’s death in 1976, Deng Xiaoping strategically deployed the tools of capitalism to preserve the Chinese Communist Party. Deng kept intact the institutional foundations of totalitarianism even as he unleashed private entrepreneurship and courted foreign investment, giving China’s one-party state control of a vast repressive apparatus and the most critical sectors of the economy. Only a fragile balance of power among dueling factions prevented the rise of a totalitarian leader in the two decades after the Tiananmen crackdown in 1989 – but this temporary equilibrium collapsed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eEssential to understanding today’s China, this meticulously researched book is a sobering account of why the country’s reformers and institutions could not stop a shrewd and ruthless politician like Xi from resurrecting dormant totalitarian practices that, for the foreseeable future, have spelled the end of the dream of a free and prosperous China.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67712199983340,"sku":"9780691223339","price":57.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780691223339-the-broken-china-dream-1.jpg?v=1791851872"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.pro\/collections\/minxin-pei.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}