{"product_id":"the-rise-and-fall-of-the-east-how-exams-autocracy-stability-and-technology-brought-china-success-and-why-they-might-lead-to-its-decline-9780300266368","title":"The Rise and Fall of the East: How Exams, Autocracy, Stability, and Technology Brought China Success, and Why They Might Lead to Its Decline","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe long history of China's relationship between stability, diversity, and prosperity, and how its current leadership threatens this delicate balance\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Riveting.\"--Tunku Varadarajan, \u003ci\u003eWall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003eForeign Affairs\u003c\/i\u003e Best Book of 2023 \u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e 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 \u003ci\u003eKeju\u003c\/i\u003e, 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Yasheng Huang shows how China transitioned from dynamism to extreme stagnation after the \u003ci\u003eKeju\u003c\/i\u003e 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). \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e 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 \u003ci\u003eKeju\u003c\/i\u003e 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eYasheng Huang\u003c\/b\u003e is the Epoch Foundation Professor of Global Economics and Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management. His books include \u003ci\u003eCapitalism with Chinese Characteristics: Entrepreneurship and the State\u003c\/i\u003e. He lives in Brookline, MA.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Yale University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50610639733010,"sku":"9780300266368","price":25.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_bb463634-e247-4b38-a922-2cce98c5522e.jpg?v=1744223968","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-east-how-exams-autocracy-stability-and-technology-brought-china-success-and-why-they-might-lead-to-its-decline-9780300266368","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}