All the experts agree: the United States and EU are in rapid decline, and China is on the verge of replacing the United States as the world’s dominant superpower. It’s easy to see why that has become the consensus opinion when you consider China’s average 10% annual growth in GDP over the past decade; its position as the dominant consumer of raw commodities and number-one exporter of manufactured goods; and the trillions of dollars that nation holds in reserve currency and its role as primary lender to debt-ridden Western economies.

So, are the experts right . . . will the 21^st century belong to China? Or is there a darker reality than that suggested by the picture of rosy good economic health successfully sold around the world by the Chinese government’s marketing apparatus?

In a book that is sure to ignite controversy among the punditocracy, in academe and at the highest levels of government, political economist and leading financial journalist James R. Gorrie, makes a compelling case that a closer, more nuanced look at the facts reveals a starkly different truth about the modern Chinese colossus: namely, that it stands upon feet of clay which, even now, are crumbling beneath it.

Rather than a nation on the cusp of replacing the United States as the global superpower, Gorrie avers, China is, once again, on the path to a complete economic and social meltdown. What makes this time different though, is that, unlike past China crises, this one is likely to have a devastating impact on the entire global economy.

Drawing upon a wealth of historical, demographic, statistical, and economic data, Gorrie develops a framework for understanding what’s going on inside China now, as well as that country’s future prospects, based on the seven key factors:

Stability: Is China’s economic development stable, and is China’s political system capable of responding constructively to instability?

Sustainability: Are China’s political and economic systems sustainable, or is the Beijing Model based entirely upon external markets and false demand driven by unsustainable debt?

Dynamism: Is there a healthy dynamic between Chinese society, the means of production, and the political system, or is Chinese state capitalism a form of “cannibal capitalism”?

Justice: Are massive land seizures, a caste system, forced relocations, and slave wages rapidly undermining the regime’s legitimacy?

Political adaptation: Does Chinese political culture help businesses adapt to financial challenges, or does it become increasingly oppressive as wealth increases?

Creativity: Do China’s economic system and political culture encourage innovation, or do they rely on theft and other forms of technology transfer, while driving its innovators out of the country?

Renewability: Is the Beijing Model one that fosters renewability, or does it rashly sacrifice long-term stability and resource protection for short-term gains?

A meticulously researched and well-reasoned analysis of the state of China’s political economy and the tragic, all-too-predictable missteps that will inexorably lead to that nation’s collapse, The China Crisis is must-reading for policymakers, business leaders, and every intelligent reader with an interest in world affairs.