HOW CHINA'S ASCENDANCE AS AN ECONOMIC SUPERPOWER WILL ALTER THE CULTURAL, POLITICAL, SOCIAL, AND ETHNIC BALANCE OF GLOBAL POWER IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY, UNSEATING THE WEST AND IN THE PROCESS CREATING A WHOLE NEW WORLD

According to even the most conservative estimates, China will overtake the United States as the world's largest economy by 2027 and will ascend to the position of world economic leader by 2050. But the full repercussions of China's ascendancy-for itself and the rest of the globe-have been surprisingly little explained or understood. In this far-reaching and original investigation, Martin Jacques offers provocative answers to some of the most pressing questions about China's growing place on the world stage.

Martin Jacques reveals, by elaborating on three historical truths, how China will seek to shape the world in its own image. The Chinese have a rich and long history as a civilization-state. Under the tributary system, outlying states paid tribute to the Middle Ki