John Starr offers all the background material, basic data, and analysis of the issues at stake that are needed to grasp the truths in China's crisis-ridden present situation. The purpose of Understanding China is to enable any reader to ask and even answer such questions as: What is the capacity of China's political system to deal successfully with the principal problems confronting the nation today - the inflammatory Taiwan issue, the future of Hong Kong, the maintenance of economic growth while the global political climate seems to be changing, the management of an orderly succession in the political leadership? Indeed, how will China be governed? And what are the likely ways in which the United States can or will influence its affairs?

Geographical inequalities -- Patterns from the past -- China's political system : the party-state and the power grid -- China's economy : who owns what, who works where, and who makes the decisions? -- The Chinese armed forces -- Sources of rural discontent -- China's cities : unemployment, corruption, and inflation -- The centrifugal forces of regionalism -- The challenge of environmental degradation -- One billion plus : controlling population growth -- Human rights and the rule of law -- Intellectual freedom and Chinese education -- Artistic freedom and China's contemporary culture -- Hong Kong : beyond 1997 -- Democratization on Taiwan : model or rival? -- China's foreign relations.