China: The Big Tiger, by Dick Wilson (Abacus, £9.99 in UK)

Napoleon once described China as a sleeping dragon, which for the West's sake should not be wakened. However, the dragon, or tiger, most certainly has awoken in this century and, largely by learning from Western technology and industry, has become again what she was for many centuries, a superpower. Much of this book deals, almost inevitably, with economic issues and achievements, though a "flowering of the arts" is also acknowledged. China is still in a state of semi convalescence after decades of war, famine and revolution, but since it has weaned itself from strict Maoist type ideology its strides have been formidable. Dick Wilson wrote just before the death of Deng, an event which is bound to qualify some of his arguments.