Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future by Dan Wang - Non Fiction - Hardback

Condition: BRAND NEW
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 9780241729175
Publisher: Allen Lane

Overview:
Breakneck is a sharp, firsthand account of China's technological rise, written by Dan Wang, a former Beijing-based analyst who spent nearly a decade observing the country's infrastructure boom up close. Wang argues that China has become an "engineering state," building bridges, railways and factories at astonishing speed, while America has drifted into a "lawyerly society" mired in litigation and delay. Timely, provocative and rich with reportage, this is essential reading for anyone trying to understand the shifting balance of global power, and why ambition, execution and infrastructure now define the contest between two superpowers.

About the Book:
In Breakneck, Dan Wang draws on his years living in China to explain how the country's engineers-turned-politicians reshaped its economy through sheer scale and speed of execution. He traces the construction of high-speed rail networks, semiconductor plants and sprawling cities, showing how China's state apparatus prizes building over debating. Wang does not offer uncritical admiration: he is equally candid about the human costs of this approach, from the surveillance of ethnic minorities to the upheavals caused by the one-child policy and zero-Covid lockdowns. The book's central comparison is with the United States, which Wang characterises as a "lawyerly society" where regulation and litigation have replaced the ambition that once built its highways and moon landings. Blending economic analysis, political history and personal reportage from his years working in Hong Kong and Beijing, Wang offers a compelling framework for understanding both China's trajectory and America's own stagnation, and what each superpower might learn from the other. Wang's prose is engaging and largely free of jargon, making complex subjects like semiconductor manufacturing and industrial policy accessible to general readers. Since publication, Breakneck has become a bestseller, reflecting its resonance with readers grappling with the new era of US-China rivalry.

Key Benefits:

• Firsthand, on-the-ground perspective on China's infrastructure and technology boom from an analyst who lived there for years.
• Introduces the provocative "engineering state" versus "lawyerly society" framework for comparing China and America.
• Explores the human costs behind China's rapid development, including surveillance and social disruption.
• Context for understanding current US-China tensions over semiconductors, trade and technology.
• A widely acclaimed, bestselling title recognised by the New York Times and the Financial Times.

About the Author:
Dan Wang is a research fellow at the Hoover History Lab at Stanford University. He previously worked as a technology analyst at Gavekal Dragonomics and was a fellow at Yale Law School's Paul Tsai China Center, spending nearly a decade in mainland China and Hong Kong. His writing on Chinese technology and politics is widely followed by policymakers and business leaders. Breakneck is his first book and an international bestseller.

Why You'll Love This Book:
For readers fascinated by geopolitics, technology and the future of global power, Breakneck offers a compelling, well-argued account of two very different paths to building the future.

Please Note: Cover may vary slightly from the image shown; this is the UK edition with the ISBN as listed.