Newswise — As China continues to leapfrog up global hierarchies, the rest of the world watches with intense interest. Despite the ever-increasing global curiosity, the country remains a "red Rubik's cube" to most outsiders.
China scholar and commentator Jeffrey Wasserstrom, chancellor's professor of history at the University of California, Irvine, tries to correct some common misunderstandings about the Asian superpower and how its past relates to its present in his new book, "Eight Juxtapositions" (Penguin 2016) where he challenges conventional commentary through eight "imperfect analogies."
"In two chapters in the book," he says, "I try to show how we can see things about Xi Jinping by placing him beside quite different figures - Pope Francis in one and Vladimir Putin in the other. It can help us put Xi Jinping in a richer perspective by thinking about characteristics he shares with them."
Wasserstrom edited "The Oxford Illustrated History of Modern China" (University of Oxford Press, 2016), which takes its readers from the origins of modern China right up through the dramatic events of the last few years, leveraging both academic and journalistic expertise to counter misconceptions about China and provide a nuanced history of the world superpower.
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