China
When I titled my book, When China Rules The World, of course I didn’t literally mean China will rule the world because no country ever has. I referred to a situation where China is the most powerful and influential country in the world. I have no reason to change my view.
I finished writing in 2008, and everything since then has only confirmed my argument and accelerated the process. China is going to become the largest economy in the world.
It will be far from being the most developed economy, and still relatively primitive compared to the US economy, but by 2030, it stands a good chance of being much bigger than the US economy.
However, the present model is still largely based on a very labor-intensive economy which is very dependent on exports. Although China is steadily moving up the value chain and the economy is becoming more research-based, that process needs to be encouraged and accelerated, and that will require some serious economic reforms.
Author looks ahead to the time when China will dominate the world
Martin Jacques finds himself in the unusual position of being something of a celebrity in China. His book When China Rules The World, which examines the implications of China overtaking the United States as the world’s largest economy, has sold 150,000 copies and has achieved the most success in the country whose rise he foretells.
“Not bad, is it?” he quips. “When I come to China people talk to me about the book; lots of people have read it. It is different from anywhere else I have been to in the West. People say to me: ‘You know you are famous in China.'”
我相信中国将对自己的历史和文化更有信心,在全球化的进程中,不会盲从西方,并将起到“抗西化”的作用。
———马丁·雅克
很多人怀疑,我持如此乐观的态度,是否因为我本人对中国特别偏爱。事实上,我对中国的感情很复杂。1998年,为了写这本书,我和妻子哈莉定居香港,两年后,哈莉因病去世,当时我们的儿子只有16个月。在我看来,很大程度上是医院歧视深肤色族裔造成的悲剧。
我的生活完全垮了,此后的五年几乎不能将书继续写下去。我喜欢中国,但中国始终与我心中最悲痛的事联系在一起,你可以想象我写书的时候,与我的写作对象保持着清醒而负责的距离。
一本《当中国统治世界时:中央帝国的崛起和西方世界的终结》让马丁·雅克在中国学界名声大噪。对这位伦敦政治经济学院亚洲研究中心教授的观点,有人赞其理论新颖,有人批其哗众取宠,有人防其恶意捧杀……但在各种争议声中,马丁·雅克看好中国的观点被广泛传播。近日,本网记者在马丁·雅克的伦敦寓所对他进行了专访,听取了他在中国研究中的一些心得。
在马丁·雅克的客厅里,放着一个中药铺里常见的暗红色柜子,一个个小抽屉上用毛笔写着的”甘草”、”茯苓”等字样还隐约可见,柜子上则立着一个一尺多高的兵马俑仿制品。”这些都是我从中国淘回来的”,马丁·雅克不无得意地说。
Long before it was trendy to do so, Martin Jacques was a firm believer that China would become a global power, and his latest book “When China Rules the World,” is attracting a lot of attention worldwide for his bold views.
The British intellectual, author and Guardian columnist was in Taiwan earlier this week for several talks on his book, through which he makes a powerful assertion – that not only will China rise, but that this will mean an end to the Western-dominated world. Nonetheless Taiwan can benefit from this, he believes, but it must grasp the opportunity to get closer to China or risk being left behind in the region.
The predictor of Beijing’s rise and Washington’s decline in less than two decades from now gives his first Asian interview to China Daily
The man who says China is about to rule the world makes his way toward me at an exit of Wudaokou subway station. None of the Chinese people around us enjoying a sunny Saturday morning in this popular student hangout of northwestern Beijing would have any idea who this shaven-headed, slightly quirky figure was or even care.
They might be slightly more intrigued if they knew the man coming into view. Martin Jacques has written a book about them and their future that is already attracting major interest in the West.
Jacques in his sandals may be an unlikely vanguard for 1.3 billion people but nonetheless When China Rules the World, which argues the former Middle Kingdom will take over from the United States as the world’s leading power, is fuelling a huge debate.