A Superficial Book About China

choi

Howard W French, Seeing China With Fresh Eyes; The hard work and enterprise of China's people—not Communist Party policies—have lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. Wall Street Journal, Oct 12, 2016
http://www.wsj.com/articles/seei ... esh-eyes-1476228090
(book review on Stein Ringen, The Perfect Dictatorship; China in the 21st century. Hong Kong Univ Press, 2016 (191 pages) )

Note:
(a) Mr French was a reporter for The New York Times, before he became an associate professor of Columbia Univ. He does not have a PhD.

(b) "Mr Ringen labors over pedestrian observations—the telltale signs of a dilettante"
(i) pedestrian (adj; Did You KNow): "COMMONPLACE; UNIMAGINATIVE"
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pedestrian
(ii) dilettante (N)
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dilettante

(c) "Much of 'The Perfect Dictatorship; is given over to pondering the nature of the Chinese polity under the ambitious current leader, Xi Jinping"

polity (n)
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/polity