Everybody talked about perestroika during that time – but what was it like on location? In a richly nuanced report Adrian Geiges tells of his experiences with the young people of the industrialized city of Rostov. He worked with them on an assembly line for harvester combines and studied with them in their middle school classes. He accompanied them to the youth club, the rock concert hall and the soccer stadium. He talked with them about love and sex, about punk rock and heavy metal, about old habits and new thinking.

“If somebody would ask me how best to inform himself about perestroika in books, I would recommend him two: The 1987 published book of the greatest statesman of our time, Mikhail Gorbachev, which draws the big lines about this topic, and the one just now published by Adrian Geiges, which describes the everyday life of perestroika in the year 1987.”
Juergen Kuczynski, Professor for Economic Sciences, author of the East German bestseller “Dialogue With My Great-Grandson”

In 1986, Adrian Geiges visited the People’s Republic of China as the first representative of the Moscow-oriented West German Communists after decades of ideological fighting between the parties of both countries. He takes the reader with him on a fascinating journey full of contradictions into the China of that time.

The contrast couldn’t be greater: in Stuttgart enraged citizens protest against the construction of a railway station which has been in planning for 15 years; the Chinese jump-start whole megacities in the same time. In Berlin schools descend into chaos, whilst Shanghai achieves first place in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). The formula for success was developed by a man who died 2500 years ago: Confucius. He promoted learning and discipline, which is exactly what counts in the today’s global competition. During the cultural revolution his followers were persecuted. Now his ideas are celebrating a comeback in China.

This book investigates the Chinese phenomenon, which will determine the outcome of the 21st century. For their exciting report the authors travelled to the biggest city in the world and to the Three Gorges Dam, visited Confucius Schools in Beijing and Hamburg, talked to Chinese leaders, thinkers and superstars. They examine China’s leadership transition in 2012 and the growing influence of microblogs, as apparent in the discussion surrounding the collision of two high-speed trains near Wenzhou and the death of a two-year-old girl in Foshan.

Contents

China on the Ascent, the West on the Descent

From Keeper of a Granary to World Philosopher – Confucius’ Career

Mao – the Red God

The New Policy of the Communists: Harmony instead of Class Struggle

Comeback of Confucius

PISA Shock and Tiger Mom

Operation Gold – How China Is Winning in Sports

In Space the Last Will Be the First

The Missionaries of Confucius in Europe

Get Rich with Confucius

From Workbench of the World to Bank of the World

Afghanistan – Grave of Two Superpowers, Birthplace of the Next

Chinese in Africa

Energy of Confucius

The Three Gorges Dam – Five Times Stronger than Fukushima

The Biggest City in the World

China’s Sexual Revolution

Confucius’ Children Fight Corruption

What the West Can Learn from Confucius