China: The Pessoptimist Nation
The rise of China presents a long-term challenge to the world not only economically, but politically and culturally. Callahan meets this challenge in China: The Pessoptimist Nation by using new Chinese sources and innovative analysis to see how Chinese people understand their new place in the world. Rather than answering the standard social science question ‘what is China?’ with statistics of economic and military power, this book asks ‘when, where, and who is China?’ Through careful analysis, Callahan charts how Chinese identity emerges through the interplay of positive and negative feelings in a dynamic that intertwines China’s domestic and international politics. China thus is the pessoptimist nation where national security is closely linked to nationalist insecurities. Callahan concludes that this interactive view of China’s pessoptimist identity means that we need to rethink the role of the state and public opinion in Beijing’s foreign policy-making.
