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Tiger Head, Snake Tails: China Today, How it Got There and Where it is Heading Hardcover – 29 Mar 2012

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Jonathan Fenby (Author)
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Jonathan Fenby (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars 21 customer reviews
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Product details

  • Hardcover: 432 pages
  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK; 1st Edition edition (29 Mar. 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1847373933
  • ISBN-13: 978-1847373939
  • Product Dimensions: 15.3 x 3.1 x 23.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 542,015 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

Review

China perplexes the outsider...Rather than history, this is a snapshot of where the nation is today and a quick-fire analysis of what's next. Any businessman heading for China will find the book a great briefing - The Sunday Times

Jonathan Fenby is an outstanding journalist who has already written a first-class modern history of the country, and his latest book provides an excellent introduction to the problems confronting its people as they embark on the transition to the fifth generation of leadership since the Communist takeover in 1949 - Lord Patten

A fine example of the way history can begin to make sense of the country for an outsider - Guardian

Timely and brilliant ... a welter of examples ... superb analysis - Observer

Says so much about the everyday life the Chinese are living at the moment ... A book that leaves Chinese journalists speechless ... Mr Fenby not only understands the complete picture of China but is also able to interpret the situation and connect the dots. A real achievement - Caixin magazine, Beijing

Compelling ... succeeds admirably as a handbook on the confusing state of contemporary China - Sunday Indian

Dizzying...delightful reading ... ringside view of events ... all the more engaging for lacking partisanship - India Today

Read this book if you are getting curious about the conundrum that is rising China. It will tell you (almost) everything you need to know - Hindustan Times

Fenby, a shrewd and experienced journalist, keeps a sober head - Mail on Sunday

A bestselling examination of modern China by an experienced and fluent commentator. Fenby takes a middle course between those who believe China will ''rule the world'' and those predicting its imminent collapse - Financial Times

Fenby's attempts to be comprehensive and balanced make his book an invaluable primer to the general reader who wants to mug up on China - Literary Review

Jonathan Fenby is a distinguished journalist who has written extensively about China. He rejects many of the simplistic attempts to analyse the modern country. In Tiger Head, Snake Tails: China Today, How it Got There and Where it is Heading, he writes for the general, interested reader. This is a one-stop account of where the fastest-growing major nation stands, and what it means for both China and the world --Total Politics

Jonathan Fenby is a distinguished journalist who has written extensively about China. He rejects many of the simplistic attempts to analyse the modern country. In Tiger Head, Snake Tails: China Today, How it Got There and Where it is Heading, he writes for the general, interested reader. This is a one-stop account of where the fastest-growing major nation stands, and what it means for both China and the world --Total Politics

'There is a risk that a book summarising such a monumental story might get bogged down in dry, statistical detail. Fenby avoids this through lively, first-person reportage and vivid vignettes … as a one-stop guide to political and economic realities in China today, Tiger Head, Snake Tails is fast-moving, informed and illuminating' --Julia Lovell, Guardian

About the Author

Jonathan Fenby is a former editor of the OBSERVER and of the SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST. He is the author of several books including the acclaimed ON THE BRINK: THE TROUBLE WITH FRANCE and GENERALISSIMO: CHIANG KAI-SHEK AND THE CHINA HE LOST.

Customer Reviews

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Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsEverything you didn't know about China
By David Attwood on 23 April 2012
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
This is the best book on China I have come across, a wonderfully detailed but also immensely readable "one-stop shop" for anyone interested in China, past, present and future. Sometimes shocking, sometimes funny, always awesome - like its subject - it's hard to put down. If you are going to China for work, on vacation, or you're just interested in trying to make sense of this huge and complex country (which feels like a continent) and its people, this is the book for you.
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3.0 out of 5 starsInteresting but not a captivating read
By Zoe Smyth on 5 Jan. 2013
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
Was required to read this book as part of a course and found it very difficult to keep reading as the book is very factual and not particularly entertaining. Was like reading a well written textbook. Good if you like lots of facts and figures but not great if you want a bit of a storyline along with the culture of China
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5.0 out of 5 starsThe best book on present day China that I have read
By Mike Partner on 27 April 2012
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
I have just started to read this book. As someone living in China it is the first book about the Middle Kingdom that I have read that resonates with my own experience. The first part of the book alone is masterful in it's sweep of the current issues that are emerging. I would recommend this highly to anyone who wants to know what is really happening in China and because of it's potential influence on the lives of everyone on this planet, that should include everyone
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4.0 out of 5 starsA good snapshot of contemporary China
By F Henwood TOP 1000 REVIEWER on 8 Jun. 2013
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
There are supposed to be a book in three book in three parts: China as today, how it got there, and where it is going.

The book is far strongest on the first part - where it is today. It is a compelling and vivid snapshot of China after three decades of extraordinary social and economic change. One gets a sense of the immensity of the country's achievements in eye-popping statistics but also of the commensurate social, economic and environmental challenges. He also pours some cold water on some of the inflated claims of China's imminent and inevitable rise to global dominance. The fact China finances the US deficit for example does not give China the whip hand over the US: China needs US consumers to buy its goods. China is assuming greater equality of status vis-à-vis the United States but it does not hold all the cards. Moreover, the speed and scope of the transformation have produced immense strains and it is a moot point whether the Party can continue to manage these strains indefinitely with perpetual one party rule.

It is weaker on how it got where it is. I did not get a sense of why the CCP embarked on the process of reform three decades ago. After the excesses of Mao, the Party certainly craved stability, as the Soviet Communist Party did after the death of Stalin in 1953. But why did it decide to concoct the risky formula of one party rule and vigorous capitalist growth? Was this the only option available to the CCP at the time? I felt that more discussion of the origins of the reform process might have been made.

In addition, the author appears to hedge his bets as to where China is going. He seems reluctant (understandably so) to make any bold prognoses of where China is going.Read more ›
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4.0 out of 5 starsRiding the Tiger
By Antenna TOP 500 REVIEWER on 16 July 2012
Format: Hardcover
Having made his name with the popular "A Penguin History of China: the Rise and Fall of a Great Power", Fenby's study of China today focuses on recent social, economic and political events.

Much of the information provided will no doubt be familiar from newspapers and television documentaries: the astonishing speed of urbanisation, with all the attendant problems of pollution and scope for corruption and substandard construction; the, to a westerner, odd blend of nominal communism and capitalism, as displayed in the coastal Special Economic Zones like Shenzhen; the harsh crackdown on any kind of rival belief system, as in the case of the Falun Gong; the current rejection of democracy or free speech as likely to destabilise society, thus hindering economic progress. Fenby uses extensive firsthand obsevation to combine all this into a single book with many often chilling examples e.g. the artist Weiwei probably fell foul of the authorities by daring to suggest in his blog that the death toll of 80,000 in a Sichuan earthquake was due to corruption in building contracts.

Fenby reminds us how the Confucian tradition of keeping "a tight grip", the control freakery of past emperors are perpetuated into the current "top down rule" which is seen as the necessary framework for economic development.

Fenby has also added to my awareness of issues. For instance, I had not considered how the one child policy has created a "time bomb" familiar to the West, in which the labour force will become inadequate to care for all those too old to work. I had not realised how Deng Xiaoping used foreign technology and capital in the 1990's to enable China to avoid a Soviet-style collapse of communism.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsChina - a fascinating insight
By markr TOP 500 REVIEWER on 10 Jun. 2012
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
This book is, as the author says he intended, a one stop shop to learn about the historical and political factors which have shaped the China of today and its relationship with the rest of the world, along with considerations of where China is heading and how that will affect us.

it is clear that what China does in the future will have a major impact on us in the West. The growth figures ( and there are lots of figures in this book) are, as you know, are spectacular. The sheer size of China, its industries and population are almost bewildering. For example in 2009 China contributed 40% of the whole world's economic growth. This growth has raised living standards for many, creating a significantly sized urban middle class. In the 1960s 18 percent of the population lived in cities - that has risen already to over 50% and is climbing fast. Average annual income per capita has risen from 528 yuan ( about £50) in the early eighties to 19100 yuan ( about £1900) in the cities today. The impact of Chinese direction on the rest of us is clear. for example, China contributes nearly two-thirds of the toys made in the world , as well as nearly half of all the clothing worn in the west, and directly effects commodity prices by the manipulation of Chinese, and therefore global demand. China has sufficient foreign currency reserves to pay off all the sovereign debt of Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain combined, as well as buying all the of world's leading IT companies and all the real estate in Manhattan, and much more besides.Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 starsIt comes in many guises from money (rarely used as it is easily...

Jonathan Fenby’s book is a comprehensive overview of the China of today and the history that has got it there. And make no mistake this is a big subject, huge, colossal. Read more

Published 7 months ago by Neil Griffiths
5.0 out of 5 starsHighly recommended

This is a great book. I read it a few months ago as part of some research, and I am rereading my notes now blown away by the clarity of the writing, breadth of the coverage and... Read more

Published 19 months ago by Reliable
5.0 out of 5 starsInteresting and Educational

A must read for anyone travelling to China, who wants t grasp the social and historical aspect of this great, complicated coutry.

Published on 15 Jan. 2014 by maja
3.0 out of 5 starsVery informative, but badly written

This was a very informative read - I went from a person that was interested but had limited knowledge on China, to a well informed person comfortable to engage in... Read more

Published on 27 Nov. 2013 by Wael
5.0 out of 5 starsA fascinating insight in modern China.

A great introduction to the phenomenom that is China and its radidly growing economy and associated changes. Read more

Published on 30 Oct. 2013 by Niall Corbet
5.0 out of 5 starsA tour de force of the China of today

We already had one masterwork from Jonathan Fenby in his Penguin History of Modern China. With such a hard work to follow, questions were abound, at least with this reader, as to... Read more

Published on 24 Jan. 2013 by Adrian J. Smith
4.0 out of 5 starsGreat summary!

An easy read and very accessible. A good insight into the Middle Kingdom, helping readers to understand the motivation behind some of the news stories.

Published on 16 Jan. 2013 by Ken L
5.0 out of 5 starschina

This is not a history of China but records what China was, what China is, and most importantly what it may become by discussing political,economic,social and regional elements that... Read more

Published on 3 Sept. 2012 by G.I.Forbes
1.0 out of 5 starsNot as expected

Sounds good, but ends up as a read of superlatives. His book has also been overtaken by events with the arrest of Bo Xi Lai and his wife. Read more

Published on 1 Aug. 2012 by Attap
3.0 out of 5 starsinformative

if you want to read an up to date book which gives a very good overall background of China and how the country functions this is it. However, it can be a bit heavy going in places.

Published on 6 July 2012 by meryon

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