Have China’s “reform and opening up” policies, proclaimed from the late 1970s onwards, been the key to the country’s spectacular growth? Or are they little more than a smokescreen for retrograde statist control to bolster the last major communist regime on Earth?⁠ ⁠ These may seem odd questions about a country that has, over four decades, risen from its basket-case condition of the late Maoist era to become a potent global rival to the US — perhaps the dominant superpower of the 21st century. But it is one prompted by China After Mao, historian Frank Dikötter’s latest examination of the recent history of the People’s Republic.⁠ ⁠ Read our book review at the link in bio 📚️⁠ .⁠ .⁠ .⁠ .⁠ .⁠ 📸: China’s young new rich shopping at the boutiques of Shanghai © Jacques Lange/Paris Match/Getty Images #ft #ftbooks #ftweekend #financialtimes