Gerhard Stahl

China will determine our future. Not only our prosperity depends on trade with the emerging economic power. Global problems, above all climate change, can only be overcome with China’s cooperation. Many see the communist People’s Republic as a threat to the international order, to peace and democracy. Europe must find a way to deal with China. To do so, we need to better understand this huge country with its history and politics.

Gerhard Stahl describes the changes in Chinese society, outlines the Chinese understanding of history, everyday economic and political life, and the ideas of Chinese interlocutors about modern China. He describes a country full of contradictions: developing country and high-tech location, socialism and market economy, cosmopolitan and nationalistic. Stahl discusses geopolitical conflicts and human rights and makes recommendations for business and politics.

After working as an economist in the German Federal Ministry of Finance and in various European institutions, Gerhard Stahl teaches at the Peking University HSBC Business School in Shenzhen and is also a member and advisor of EDUI, a Chinese environmental NGO.

In the series China