The rise and fall of the EAST : how exams, autocracy, stability, and technology brought China success, and why they might lead to its decline / Yasheng Huang.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Huang, Yasheng.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bureaucracy--Economic aspects--China--History.

Bureaucracy.

Industrial policy--China--History.

Industrial policy.

Civil service--China--Examinations--History.

Civil service.

China--Economic policy--History.

China.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (437 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, 2023.

Summary:

"Chinese society has been shaped by the interplay of the EAST--exams, autocracy, stability, and technology--from ancient times through the present. Beginning with the Sui dynasty's introduction of the civil service exam, known as Keju, in 587 CE--and continuing through the personnel management system used by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)--Chinese autocracies have developed exceptional tools for homogenizing ideas, norms, and practices. But this uniformity came with a huge downside: stifled creativity. Yasheng Huang shows how China transitioned from dynamism to extreme stagnation after the Keju was instituted. China's most prosperous periods, such as during the Tang dynasty (618-907) and under the reformist CCP, occurred when its emphasis on scale (the size of bureaucracy) was balanced with scope (diversity of ideas). Considering China's remarkable success over the past half-century, Huang sees signs of danger in the political and economic reversals under Xi Jinping. The CCP has again vaulted conformity above new ideas, reverting to the Keju model that eventually led to technological decline. It is a lesson from China's own history, Huang argues, that Chinese leaders would be wise to take seriously."--Dust jacket.

Contents:

Cover

Half Title

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Contents

Preface

Introduction: Unpacking the EAST Formulation

PART I: EXAMINATION

1. Keju as a Scaling Instrument

2. Organizing China-and the CCP

PART II: AUTOCRACY

3. A State without a Society

4. Reversion to the Autocratic Mean

PART III: STABILITY

5. What Makes Chinese Autocracy So Stable?

6. Tullock's Curse

PART IV: TECHNOLOGY

7. Reframing the Needham Question

8. A Republic of Government

PART V: THE FUTURE OF THE EAST MODEL

9. The CCP of Xi Jinping

10. Breaking Out of the EAST Model?

Chronology

Notes

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9780300274912

0300274912

OCLC:

1393242466