Selling China: Foreign Direct Investment During the Reform Era. By Yasheng Huang. [New York and London: Cambridge University Press, 2003. 383 pp. £40.00. ISBN: 0-521-81428-6.] Internationalizing China: Domestic Interests and Global Linkages. By David Zweig. [Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2002. 291 pp. $54.00. ISBN 0-8014-8755-2.]

Extract

In 2001 China attracted more foreign direct investment than any other nation in the world, including the United States. China's love affair with foreign capital and foreign investors' ardour for China is increasingly a subject of academic inquiry. What are the causes of this mutual attraction? And perhaps more important, what are its effects on China's internal political and economic development? Two recent books by political scientists are focused on answering the former question and, by way of conclusion, speculating on the latter. In their attempts they have contributed to a new and fascinating debate on how globalization (increased contact and interdependence between states, organizations, and individuals) is changing China.

Despite their similar focus, these books are complementary rather than overlapping. They employ different theoretical approaches and modes of empirical evidence. Huang's book is situated in the general business literature on foreign direct investment with scant emphasis on political science while Zweig forges an eclectic argument that draws from political economy, China studies, and sociology. Zweig employs various methods of data collection and empirical evidence, relying both on extensive interviews and statistical data. Huang relies mainly on statistical data culled from various sources and a small number of interviews with firm managers and officials. Both books are data rich and are argued persuasively. While Zweig's research is more finely-grained and attentive to regional differences in opening up, Huang uses some key case studies to make his general points more specific.