我們把在潮中戲水的弄潮兒，來比喻有勇敢進取精神的人。 本書分為兩個部分。第一部分的主人公是企業家。他們從貧窮到富有的故事多姿多彩，而且帶有明顯的中國特色：潘石屹、張欣是一對在外人看來不太可能成為夫妻的夫妻，攜手成為中國房地產界中的翹楚；孫立哲是一個善於順應時代潮流的天才，把自己從文革中毛澤東喜愛的「赤腳醫生」變成了特立獨行的出版商；張大中是一個矢志為母親洗清冤屈的家電連鎖企業巨頭，他的母親以「反革命分子」的罪名被當局用最殘忍的方式處決。 第二組人物以知識分子為主。文中涉及北京大學的教授們，他們如何捲入了一場關於教育改革的激烈論戰；作者哥哥查建國，一個因參與組建「中國民主黨」而獲罪並在監獄服刑九年的持不同政見者；最後是一位當過文化部長的作家王蒙，人們為他到底是共產黨的辯護士亦或是可能獲得諾貝爾文學獎的偉大作家而分成兩派。 追蹤並記錄這些鮮活的人物和他們的故事，讓這些故事加深讀者對當代中國的理解。這本書可以幫助讀者更好地瞭解目前發生在中國以及中國人身邊的、錯綜複雜、前景未明但卻生機勃勃的歷史轉變。

Westerners tend to divide the political world into "good" democracies and "bad" authoritarian regimes. But the Chinese political model does not fit neatly in either category. Over the past three decades, China has evolved a political system that can best be described as "political meritocracy." The China Model seeks to understand the ideals and the reality of this unique political system. How do the ideals of political meritocracy set the standard for evaluating political progress (and regress) in China? How can China avoid the disadvantages of political meritocracy? And how can political meritocracy best be combined with democracy? Daniel Bell answers these questions and more. Opening with a critique of "one person, one vote" as a way of choosing top leaders, Bell argues that Chinese-style political meritocracy can help to remedy the key flaws of electoral democracy. He discusses the advantages and pitfalls of political meritocracy, distinguishes between different ways of combining meritocracy and democracy, and argues that China has evolved a model of democratic meritocracy that is morally desirable and politically stable. Bell summarizes and evaluates the "China model"—meritocracy at the top, experimentation in the middle, and democracy at the bottom—and its implications for the rest of the world. A timely and original book that will stir up interest and debate, The China Model looks at a political system that not only has had a long history in China, but could prove to be the most important political development of the twenty-first century.

China’s stunning record of economic development since the 1970s has been marred by an increasingly obvious gap between the country’s ‘haves’ and its ‘have-nots’. While people living in some parts of the country have enjoyed dramatically improved conditions of life, those in other districts and regions have slipped ever further behind in terms of access to health, wealth, education, security and opportunity. Paying for Progress in China is a collection of essays which trace the causes of this growing inequality, using new data including surveys, interviews, newly available official statistics and in-depth fieldwork. Their findings expose the malfunctioning of China’s ‘broken’ intergovernmental fiscal system, which has exacerbated the disequalizing effects of emerging market forces. Whilst the government’s deliberately ‘pro-poor’ development policies have in recent years sought to reduce the gap between rich and poor, both markets, and also state institutions and policies, are continuing to create perverse equity outcomes across the country, confounding hopes for better-balanced and more inclusive growth in China. The interdisciplinary approach of this collection, incorporating work by economists, sociologists and political scientists, makes it a valuable resource for students of contemporary Chinese political economy and social development.