The End of Cheap China, Revised and Updated Economic and Cultural Trends That Will Disrupt the World

“REIN MASTERFULLY CAPTURES WHERE [CONSUMERS] HAVE BEEN AND WHERE THEY DREAM OF GOING.” —FORTUNE

PRAISE FOR THE END OF CHEAP CHINA

“Brilliantly written.” —Financial Times

“Rein combines elegant writing and methodical research. Years of working in China have given him access to important players. Incisive interviews with billionaires, business executives, government officials, and migrant workers guide the pulse of the narrative . . . essential reading.” —USA Today

“Engaging. Full of vivid anecdotes from Chinese billionaires to senior party officials and even prostitutes. For any foreigners thinking about doing business in the Middle Kingdom, The End of Cheap China is a good place to start.” —Reuters

“Must-read.” —Consulting Magazine

“A lively read.” —Straits Times

“An inside look.” —Industry Week

“Compelling, engaging, informative.” —The Cayman Islands Journal

“Lively, well-written book.” —South China Morning Post

“Engaging, highly readable style with real-life examples from vast catalog of China research. For good measure, Rein wedded into China’s elite, marrying the granddaughter of 1980s Politburo chairman Marshal Ye Jianying” —Asia Times

SHAUN REIN is the founder and Managing Director of the China Market Research Group, a leading strategic market intelligence firm that advises Fortune 500 companies, private equity firms, and hedge funds about profiting in China. Millions read his weekly CNBC column on business in China. He regularly appears on Bloomberg TV, MSNBC, BBC, CNN, and NPR, and is often featured in The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, and the New York Times.

Prologue ix

Chapter 1 Chinese Billionaires Outnumber American Ones 1

Chapter 2 Cheap Chinese Labor? Not Anymore: China’s Workers Are Demanding Better Pay and Better Conditions—And They Are Earning Them 19

Chapter 3 Stability Is the Key to Happiness: How China’s Government Thinks and Why It Acts the Way It Does 39

Chapter 4 The Modern Chinese Woman 63

Chapter 5 Why Chinese Consider Kentucky Fried Chicken Healthful: China’s Iffy Food Supply Chain Is Putting a Premium on Safe Food 85

Chapter 6 Understanding Corruption in China: What China’s Underground Sex Trade Shows about Its Government 103

Chapter 7 China’s Real Estate Sector: Boom or Bust or Something Else? 125

Chapter 8 Chinese Neo-Colonialism in Africa and the End of American Hegemony? 147

Chapter 9 China’s Educational Sector: Preventing China from Cementing Its Superpower Status 171

Chapter 10 What the End of Cheap China Means for the Rest of the World 189

Epilogue 203

Postscript 205

Acknowledgments 209

Index 211

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