# The Rise and Fall of the East: How Exams, Autocracy, Stability, and Technology Brought China Success, and Why They Might Lead to Its Decline - Hardcover

by **Yasheng Huang** (Author)

**The long history of China's relationship between stability, diversity, and prosperity, and how its current leadership threatens this delicate balance**

**A _Foreign Affairs_ Best Book of 2023**

Chinese society has been shaped by the interplay of the EAST--exams, autocracy, stability, and technology--from ancient times through the present. Beginning with the Sui dynasty's introduction of the civil service exam, known as _Keju_, in 587 CE--and continuing through the personnel management system used by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)--Chinese autocracies have developed exceptional tools for homogenizing ideas, norms, and practices. But this uniformity came with a huge downside: stifled creativity.

Yasheng Huang shows how China transitioned from dynamism to extreme stagnation after the _Keju_ was instituted. China's most prosperous periods, such as during the Tang dynasty (618-907) and under the reformist CCP, occurred when its emphasis on scale (the size of bureaucracy) was balanced with scope (diversity of ideas).

Considering China's remarkable success over the past half-century, Huang sees signs of danger in the political and economic reversals under Xi Jinping. The CCP has again vaulted conformity above new ideas, reverting to the _Keju_ model that eventually led to technological decline. It is a lesson from China's own history, Huang argues, that Chinese leaders would be wise to take seriously.

### Author Biography

**Yasheng Huang** is the Epoch Foundation Professor of Global Economics and Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management. His books include _Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics: Entrepreneurship and the State_. He lives in Brookline, MA.

**Number of Pages:** 440

**Dimensions:** 1.19 x 9.52 x 6.42 IN

**Illustrated:** Yes

**Publication Date:** August 29, 2023

## Details

- **Price:** 35.0 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 35.00 USD | In stock |

## Images

- The Rise and Fall of the East: How Exams, Autocracy, Stability, and Technology Brought China Success, and Why They Might Lead to Its Decline - Hardcover

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