Jeff J. Brown - China Rising: Capitalist Roads, Socialist Destinations

Incorporating Jeff J. Browns geopolitical chronicles

REVISED EDITION #1

CHINA RISING
Capitalist Roads, Socialist Destinations -

The True Face of Asias Enigmatic Colossus

Incorporating Jeff J. Browns geopolitical chronicles

Copyright 2016, 2019, by Jeff J. Brown
All rights reserved.

First electronic and paperback editions published in the United States by Punto Press Publishing
P.O. Box 943, Brewster, NY 10509 USA
Address all inquiries to

Summary: An intimate social, historical, cultural and political look at 21st century China, cross-referencing the USA and Europe.
Provided by publisher.

ISBN-13: 978-0-9964870-1-6

ISBN-10: 0-9964870-1-8

China-United States-Europe-Russia-History-Current Events.
I. Title.

Cover photo and section photos by www.redocn.com and Punto Press LLC.

Book design by Punto Press Publishing

First Edition/ Rev. 1.0 /2019

FOREWORD

The Not So Quiet American

S OONER or later, certainly while you are deep into this book, say when you reach that part that explains what makes Xi Jinping run, you gotta ask yourself a question; why should I rely on a gaggle of pompous, redundant, ideologically impaired U.S. scholars self-billed as China experts when I can get my Sino-kicks with Jeff?

There's your answer. Leave those poor fools to die of thirst in the Gobi of ideas, and hop on the New Silk Roads with a Not So Quiet American. Youre guaranteed not to be lost in translation.

Jeff and I met in my favorite Xinjiang restaurant in Beijing on a cold winter evening. We hit it off famously. We had already read each others work, and we were politically, even spiritually - in synch. So here we were: two laowai (old outsiders), originally from the Americas, him from the North, myself from the South, sitting on a tavern served by smiling Uyghur girls, discussing the Chinese century. If this was a western, the placid scene would have been disturbed by the spectacular entrance of a NSA-cleared deranged killer but this was Beijing, and no one would dare mess with Chinese intel.

Lets cut to the chase; take this as your travel book of choice to navigate the 21st century Chinese dream. Its got historical background. Its got some of the best sights. Its got reams of symbolism. It radiates, all across the narrative, that elegant scent of Confucianism imbuing all levels of Chinese society and culture. And its got the Chinese leadership planning, planning, more planning, and executing, executing, non-stop executing. Jeff makes it all so easy to digest, when he affectionately calls this powerful, mindful system Baba Beijing as in father.

You will read Jeff mocking all so predictable facets of Exceptionalistan masters of stigmatizing Red China, or the communist dictatorship, or whatever. Nonsense. What matters is what you wont read on indispensable U.S. corporate rags; how Xi Dada is steering and stirring the Middle Kingdom with the Chinese Dream, the vision within, and the One Belt, One Road (OBOR), the vision beyond. Exceptionalists operate on the (flawed) assumption that Chinas expansion will fall dramatically. Jeff will give you elements to understand how it wont. Whats declining here is not China, but U.S. influence, in parallel with U.S. deindustrialization. And if what Jeff says mirrors what the Peoples Daily says, so much the better; youre getting it straight from the dragons mouth.

As Jeff put it; just like the Washington Post and New York Times in the U.S., the Peoples Daily is a government mouthpiece, so whatever they say, you can take it to the bank that it is channeling Baba Beijing, just like a good Pentecostal speaking the word of God in tongues.

Turbo-capitalism has not yet depleted the development of its productive forces especially in China, which may still absorb vast spaces that are non-capitalist, pre-capitalist or just plain agricultural. No wonder Baba Beijing predicts the beginning of socialization for100 years from now. Talk about socialism as conceived by Marx and Engels: as a natural consequence of the historical development of capitalism. This is what Baba Beijing is really up to and this is what youll be offered a glimpse of by Jeff.

So get ready to be familiar with the hexi (nucleus) of the leadership, and what makes Xi Dada run. Get ready to see the workings of what Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov loves to fully describe as Comprehensive Strategic Partnership of Cooperation (CSPC) the Russia-China alliance. And last but not least, also get ready to grab a cab on a rainy day in Beijing (yes, its epic).

Jeff spent 13 years living and working in China. He speaks fluent Mandarin. Hes been to 30 of the 34 provinces. He met the full spectrum of Chinese society. He modestly frames it as I am a changed person since he first arrived in the Middle Kingdom in 1990 when the spectacular post-modern version of the Long March was just beginning. In fact he metamorphosed into a priceless Western guide to the greatest story of the 21st century; China back to where it was during most of recorded history on top.

Jeff, half in jest, says that the world is now officially in the Xi era. And hes only getting started; his next book will be a historical fiction The Diaries of Xi Jinping. Rock on, Jeff Dada.

Pepe Escobar

Paris, April 2016

Prologue

O N a personal level, this book is a virtuous circle. My first book, 44 Days, really gave me a deep understanding of China and its peoples. This book, China Rising- Capitalist Roads, Socialist Destinations- The True Face of Asias Enigmatic Colossus, has enabled me to discover my own countries (the United States and France), past and present, as well as digging much deeper and wider into all things China, past, present and future.

This whole process has been a voyage to learn the truth and I slowly realized this means questioning a lifetime of conventional wisdom, the popular consensus and their accepted myths. Looking back, I was not really prepared to do this, until coming back to China in 2010. The alternating bookends of growing up in America and then living and working in Africa and the Middle East, 1980-1990; living in China, 1990-1997, France and the United States, 1997-2010 and then back to China, 2010-2016, were and are the doors of my newfound perception.

I now understand that getting de-brainwashed takes a lot of effort, humility and personal courage. I get inspired reading about others peoples journeys to discover the truth. Please allow me to share mine.

I grew up in Oklahoma, USA, in the 1950s-1960s, a very unique period in modern American history. Every school day started with the Pledge of Allegiance, class prayer and singing the Broadway musical, state song, Oklahoma. Patriotism, God, country, the goodness of Americas government and the nobility of its institutions. Beacon on the hill. Americas selfless sacrifice to bring freedom, democracy and Adam Smiths invisible hand of righteous capitalism to the worlds oppressed masses. Domino theory. Red scare. Commies. Nuclear bomb shelters. Teachers practicing with us, When you see the flash of light, duck and cover. Sputnik. The space race. John F. Kennedy. RFK and MLK murdered. Vietnam. Nixon. Sex n drugs n rock n roll. Beatles, Rolling Stones, the Who, Led Zeppelin, Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane. Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel, Motown, Stax.