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The cover of The Broken China Dream

The Broken China Dream

Minxin Pei, 2025

Why did China's market reforms end in Xi Jinping's strongman rule? Minxin Pei shows how the party's own choices since Mao made repression, stagnation and a new cold war likely.

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10 parts, about 28 minutes to read.

Why read it

  • Argues that China's reform era preserved the institutions of one party totalitarianism, leaving them ready for a strongman to revive
  • Helps you see why rapid growth and trade with the West did not bring political opening, and why rivalry with the West hardened
  • Traces elite choices decade by decade, from reform to crony capitalism, weighing structure against accident and personal agency

Who it is for

  • Readers trying to understand China's turn since the reform era
  • Business people and diplomats who deal with China
  • Students of authoritarian politics and economic reform

What the summary covers

  1. Introduction3 min
  2. Chapter 1: The Decisive Decade3 min
  3. Chapter 2: Reform and Growth in the 1980s2 min
  4. Chapter 3: Building Neo Authoritarianism, 1992–20023 min
  5. Chapter 4: Stagnation in the Hu Jintao Era3 min
  6. Chapter 5: China's Economic Miracle2 min
  7. Chapter 6: Revival of Totalitarianism Under Xi Jinping4 min
  8. Chapter 7: End of the Chinese Economic Miracle3 min
  9. Chapter 8: From Engagement to a New Cold War3 min
  10. Conclusion2 min

Recommended by

  • Martin WolfChief economics commentator at the Financial Times
    Anybody interested in modern China should read this book.
  • Martin WolfChief economics commentator at the Financial Times
    Anybody interested in modern China should read this book.

About the author

  • Minxin PeiProfessor of government at Claremont McKenna College who studies Chinese politics
    • Born 10 December 1957 in Shanghai
    • PhD in political science from Harvard University
    • Director of the Keck Center for International and Strategic Studies at Claremont McKenna, 2009 to 2019
    • Listed among Prospect magazine's top 100 public intellectuals in 2008
    • In 2019 the first to hold the Library of Congress chair on relations between the United States and China

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