ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book shows that the People's Republic of China is undergoing a transitional period of rapid economic and social development. Critically, many of the core internal issues facing China also have potential external repercussions, principally in terms of rising social unrest, nationalism, environmental degradation, resource shortages and attitudes towards globalization. Ruling from the centre over a large and diverse territory, the search for national stability and a concurrent fear of its potential negative consequences has been prevalent among Chinese elites both before and during the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) era. Although focused upon economic reform as a way to variously ensure the CCP's survival via a newly ascribed legitimacy, to raise living standards and to slowly reassert China in the world, the post-Mao era has also maintained such distinctly engrained attitudes.
