Author: Martin Jacques Publisher: Penguin Group FOR hundreds of years, the term ‘modernity’ has been synonomous with being western. This book argues things will be different with the rise of China as the Middle Kingdom reasserts itself.

Martin Jacques, with his background in international relations and politics, takes a positive view of China reassuming its traditional position at the centre of East Asia and how this will affect both politics and economics.

His main argument is that the West will no longer be dominant and the term ‘modernity’ can be defined in many ways with the new hierarchy. The old tributary system will resurface in a modern form and contemporary ideas of racial hierarchy will be redrawn and China’s sense of superiority will emerge with greater force than ever before.