Wealth and Power is a work of intellectual history disguised as a guide to China's economic development.
It covers a fascinating period of upheavals, riots and revolutions, social, economic, and political. As the book’s authors Orville Schell and John Delury make abundantly clear: progress is hard.
China suffered dismemberment and punitive legal and financial sanctions at the hands of colonial powers throughout the 19th century and into the early 20th.
“The Chinese government … is strong enough … [only] to keep the great Chinese cow steady while foreigners extract the milk,” wrote the British vice-consul in Canton in 1895.
Such insults inspired national soul-searching, exemplified by National Humiliation Day, an annual event during which Chinese citizens were invited to reflect on the shame of foreign intervention in their country.
Shame is a motive force in the Confucian tradition, write Schell and Delury. As with the Eskimos, and their apocryphal glut of synonyms for ‘snow’, so too with the Chinese and ‘ignominy’. Mandarin boasts more than one hundred similar words, apparently.
This national self-flagellation habit motivated a generation of intellectuals to action.
Individuals like Sun Yat-sen and Wei Yuan diagnosed China’s Confucian culture and antiquated bureaucracy as insuperable obstacles to modernisation. So they advocated national strengthening through force of arms and economic development.
Some advocated closer ties to the West, others advocated nationalism and economic self-sufficiency.
Some embraced their Confucian heritage, others sought to burn it. Almost all were authoritarian.
The violence and suffering wrought by chairman Mao Zedong are hard to fathom. Abused by his father, he was an agent of chaos who caused the deaths of tens of millions.
Successive leaders – Deng Xiaoping and Zhu Rongji – pursued economic reforms and were lucky enough to live in a country of hundreds of millions. This massive population served as a powerful engine for growth.
In Wealth and Power, there is much matter for the amateur Sinologist to wrestle with.
But this book won’t teach you how to rescue a country from economic decline.
abouyamourn@thenational.ae
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
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MATCH INFO
First Test at Barbados
West Indies won by 381 runs
Second Test at Antigua
West Indies won by 10 wickets
Third Test at St Lucia
February 9-13
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
Business Insights
- As per the document, there are six filing options, including choosing to report on a realisation basis and transitional rules for pre-tax period gains or losses.
- SMEs with revenue below Dh3 million per annum can opt for transitional relief until 2026, treating them as having no taxable income.
- Larger entities have specific provisions for asset and liability movements, business restructuring, and handling foreign permanent establishments.
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Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
'HIJRAH%3A%20IN%20THE%20FOOTSTEPS%20OF%20THE%20PROPHET'
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Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
The specs: 2019 Mini Cooper
Price, base: Dh141,740 (three-door) / Dh165,900 (five-door)
Engine: 1.5-litre four-cylinder (Cooper) / 2.0-litre four-cylinder (Cooper S)
Power: 136hp @ 4,500rpm (Cooper) / 192hp @ 5,000rpm (Cooper S)
Torque: 220Nm @ 1,480rpm (Cooper) / 280Nm @ 1,350rpm (Cooper S)
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 4.8L to 5.4L / 100km
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WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
