New from United Press

The book division of Alpina Business Books/United Press has released "As China Goes, So Goes the World: How Chinese Consumers are Transforming Everything" by Karl Gerth.

China has already developed a strong consumer society despite nominally remaining a communist country. The current generation in China is striving to not only catch up to, but overtake the people of the great consumer powers — and that effort is bringing fundamental change to Chinese society and the world as a whole. Professor Karl Gerth of the Modern Chinese History Department at Oxford University lived in China for many years and paints a vivid picture of modern Chinese life and its historical context. The rapid development of pop music (so-called Mandopop), the demand for luxury brands, the dramatic increase in the number of automobiles and the explosive growth of the advertising industry have occurred alongside rampant piracy and knock-off goods that have forever blackened the reputation of the "Made in China" label, the formation of the world’s largest market for sex services, the sale of children and wives, the trade in human organs, the killing of endangered species for simple amusement and the catastrophic poisoning of the environment. Chinese consumers can save the world economy by creating major new markets for consumer goods and turning their country into a stable democratic state — or, they might just as capably bring the world to ruin.

Read "As China Goes, So Goes the World" and learn how Chinese consumers are already forming our common future.