Book review: enough with the over-simplified portraits of China: moving beyond our obsession with whether it will collapse or run the world

In this compelling and lucid account based on years of research and first-hand experience, rooted in on-the-ground reporting, interviews, observations, analysis of data and a viewpoint that sees China from the inside out, Jonathan Fenby links together the myriad features of today’s China. Fenby manages to avoid the binary approach so often applied to China – the country is either good or bad, set to reach the stars or collapse in chaos – finds Ting Xu. Tiger Head, Snake Tails: China Today, How it Got There And Where It Is Heading. Jonathan Fenby. Simon & Schuster. February 2012.