ABSTRACT
China's phenomenal rise to wealth will make a global economic, political and perhaps cultural and even religious impact far beyond the modernization of its smaller neighbours. The terms 'Chinese Century' and 'New Chinese Empire' are gaining currency as the rest of the world reflects on the statement, attributed to Napoleon, that 'when China wakes, the world will tremble'. Some writers stress negative features of the economy, government and social system, believing that China's new-found power makes it an unstable and fundamentally flawed nation-state. Among problems they highlight are an ambitious but outmoded and corrupt form of government by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP); massive if hidden unemployment that is only tolerable because of the short-term boom; and unsustainable predation of the environment. Terrill. for example, presumes that the Beijing government wants a dominant role in Asia, similar to that of the USA in Latin America.
