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China's momentous socioeconomic transformation is not taking place in an intellectual vacuum: Chinese scholars and public intellectuals are actively engaged in fervent discussions about the country's domestic and foreign policies, demographic constraints, and ever-growing integration into the world community. This book focuses on China's major think tanks where policies are initiated, and on a few prominent thinkers who influence the way in which elites and the general public understand and deal with the various issues confronting the country.
The book examines a number of factors contributing to the rapid rise of Chinese think tanks in the reform era. These include the leadership's call for "scientific decision-making," the need for specialized expertise in economics and finance as China becomes an economic powerhouse, the demand for opinion leaders in the wake of a telecommunication revolution driven by social media, the accumulation of human and financial capital, and the increasing utility of the "revolving door" nature of think tanks.
Li Cheng is Director and Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution's John L Thornton China Center. Dr Li is also a director of the National Committee on US–China Relations, a member of the Academic Advisory Team of the Congressional US–China Working Group, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is the author/editor of numerous books, including Rediscovering China: Dynamics and Dilemmas of Reform (1997), China's Leaders: The New Generation (2001), Bridging Minds Across the Pacific: The Sino–US Educational Exchange (2005), China's Changing Political Landscape: Prospects for Democracy (2008), China's Emerging Middle Class: Beyond Economic Transformation (2010), The Road to Zhongnanhai: High-Level Leadership Groups on the Eve of the 18th Party Congress (2012, in Chinese), China's Political Development: Chinese and American Perspectives (2014), and Chinese Politics in the Xi Jinping Era: Reassessing Collective Leadership (forthcoming 2016).

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The Power Of Ideas