ABSTRACT
Armed with the newly acquired lens of relationalism, this chapter prepares the reader for an investigation of China’s destiny in the 21st century. Although predictions about China’s fate in the 21st century abound, few are based on thorough study of the key relationships that determine that fate. Relationalism leads the investigation to the most promising path, which is to follow how well the Chinese Communist Party (the CCP) is managing its intraparty relationships, its relationships with the State, and most critically, its relationship with the Chinese people. The failure of any of these relationships could well throw China into a state of economic devastation and political mayhem domestically. To lay down the foundation of such in-depth discussions of these critical relationships in the 21st century, this chapter briefly recounts the turbulent times of the latter part of the 20th century when the CCP and its Chairman Mao Zedong led China into the political, economic and social ruins of 11 years of the “Cultural Revolution.” Those ruins were the starting point of China’s journey into the 21st century.
