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Book Tencent

Download or read book Tencent written by Lulu Chen and published by . This book was released on 2022-03 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2019, a Chinese entity called Tencent overtook Facebook to become the world's fifth-largest company. It was a watershed moment, a wake-up call for those in the West accustomed to regarding the global tech industry through the prism of Silicon Valley: Facebook, Google, Apple and Microsoft.Yet to many of the two billion-plus people who live just across the Pacific Ocean, it came as no surprise at all.Tencent's ambition to be an essential part of digital daily life means it holds a dizzyingly diverse range of products - music, gaming, messaging, and film. In this fascinating narrative - crammed with insider interviews, exclusive details about the company's culture - tech reported Lulu Chen tells the story of how Tencent is changing the world and asks what the consequences will be for us all.

Book Influence Empire

Download or read book Influence Empire written by Lulu Chen and published by Hodder Paperbacks. This book was released on 2023-07-13 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *REVISED AND UPDATED* *SHORTLISTED FOR THE FINANCIAL TIMES BUSINESS BOOK 2022* *A TIMES BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEARS 2022* *A Forbes Espana Top Ten Book 2022* *A Project Syndicate 2022 Best Read* 'A fascinating study of the tech giant and its symbiotic relationship with the Chinese government' - Guardian 'Vital . . . More than a corporate hagiography, Ms. Chen's book offers insight into the company via executive interviews and exclusive details.' -- New York Times 'Influence Empire by Lulu Yilun Chen is so much more than the long-awaited story of Tencent and its vital everything app, WeChat, the messaging tool used by 1.3 billion people. It's also the sobering account of an entire generation of high-flying Chinese tech entrepreneurs, whose wings were clipped by the omnipotent hand of their own government.' -- Brad Stone, author of Amazon Unbound and The Everything Store PRE-ORDER NOW: the definitive look at Tencent, one of the world's largest tech companies. __________ In 2017, a company known as Tencent overtook Facebook to become the world's fifth largest company. It was a watershed moment, a wake-up call for those in the West accustomed to regarding the global tech industry through the prism of Silicon Valley: Facebook, Google, Apple and Microsoft. Yet to many of the two billion-plus people who live just across the Pacific Ocean, it came as no surprise at all. Founded by the enigmatic billionaire Pony Ma, the firm that began life as a simple text-message operator invested in and created some of China's most iconic games en route to dreaming up WeChat - the Swiss Army knife super-app that combines messaging, shopping and entertainment. Through billions of dollars of global investments in marquee names from Fortnite to Tesla and a horde of start-ups, Ma's company went on to build a near-unparalleled empire of influence. In this fascinating narrative - crammed with insider interviews and exclusive details - Lulu Chen tells the story of how Tencent created the golden era of Chinese technology, and delves into key battles involving Didi, Meituan and Alibaba. It's a chronicle of critical junctures and asks just what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur in China. __________ 'There's so much fascinating detail here.' -- The Times 'Lulu Yilun Chen has written a sharply informed, smart and compelling account of the rise of some of the most powerful companies in China, which also stand among the biggest and richest tech giants in the world. Despite their enormous size and power, few outside of China know of or understand these companies. Now, thanks to Influence Empire: Inside the Story of Tencent and China's Tech Ambition, that will finally change.' -- Howard French, former NY Times Shanghai bureau chief and author of Everything Under the Heavens: How the Past Helps Shape China's Push for Global Power 'A book that tells Tencent's story has been long overdue, and Lulu Chen's account is not only comprehensive, but also a gripping business narrative. The globally influential company finally has the account it deserves.' -- David Barboza, The Wire

Book Mondo Agnelli

Download or read book Mondo Agnelli written by Jennifer Clark and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-11-21 with total page 393 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The fascinating story of a century-old automobile dynasty Fiat is one of the world's largest automakers, but when it made headlines by grabbing control of a bankrupt Chrysler in 2009 it was unknown in the U.S. Fiat’s against-all-odds swoop on Chrysler---masterminded by Sergio Marchionne, the Houdini-like manager who saved Fiat from its own near-collapse in 2005 – has made the automaker one of the most unlikely winners of the financial crisis. Mondo Agnelli is a new book that looks at the chain of unpredictable events triggered by the death of Gianni Agnelli in 2003. Gianni, the charismatic, silver-haired power broker and style icon, was the patriarch who had lead the company founded by his grandfather in 1899. But Gianni's own son had committed suicide. Without a mature heir, the dynasty and Fiat were rudderless. Backed by Gianni's closest advisors, his serious, shy, and determined grandson John plucked Marchionne from obscurity. Together, they saved the family company and, inadvertently, positioned Fiat as a global trailblazer when the global storm hit. A classic story of ingenuity and hard work, the book portrays a business dynasty that triumphed over adversity and family tragedy because of its own smarts, sweat, and ability to bend the rules A an engaging tale for those interested in the stories behind the economic crash, the book contains never-before reported material about how Fiat succeeded in making Chrysler profitable where both Daimler AG and Cerberus, its previous owners, had failed. A story for a wide audience, from car buffs, business readers, lovers of Italy, and anyone fascinated by the lifestyle of Europe's most glamorous industrial dynasty, this book tells the tale of how Fiat achieved the seemingly impossible -- turning around an American automotive icon everyone else had given up for dead.

Book Tech Titans of China

Download or read book Tech Titans of China written by Rebecca A. Fannin and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book Tech Titans of China

Download or read book Tech Titans of China written by Rebecca Fannin and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2019-09-26 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Featuring detailed profiles of the Chinese tech companies making waves, the tech sectors that matter most in China's grab for super power status, and predictions for China's tech dominance in just 10 years. The rise of China's tech companies and intense competition from the sector is just beginning. This will present an ongoing management and strategy challenge for companies for many years to come. Tech Titans of China is the go-to-guide for companies (and those interested in competition from China) seeking to understand China's grand tech ambitions, who the players are and what their strategy is. Fannin, a leading expert on the Chinese tech sector, is an internationally-recognized journalist, author and speaker. Through her company, Silicon Dragon, Fannin hosts 12 live events annually for business leaders, venture capitalists, start-up founders, and others impacted by or interested in the Chinese tech industry.

Book China s Disruptors

Download or read book China s Disruptors written by Edward Tse and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2015-07-14 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In September 2014, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba raised $25 billion in the world’s biggest-ever initial public offering. Since then, millions of investors and managers worldwide have pondered a fundamental question: What’s really going on with the new wave of China’s disruptors? Alibaba wasn’t an outlier—it’s one of a rising tide of thriving Chinese companies, mostly but not exclusively in the technology sector. Overnight, its founder, Jack Ma, appeared on the same magazine covers as American entrepreneurial icons like Mark Zuckerberg. Ma was quickly followed by the founders of other previously little-known companies, such as Baidu, Tencent, and Xiaomi. Over the past two decades, an unprecedented burst of entrepreneurialism has transformed China’s economy from a closed, impoverished, state-run system into a major power in global business. As products in China become more and more sophisticated, and as its companies embrace domestically developed technology, we will increasingly see Chinese goods setting global standards. Meanwhile, companies in the rest of the world wonder how they can access the fast-rising incomes of China’s 1.3 billion consumers. Now Edward Tse, a leading global strategy consultant, reveals how China got to this point, and what the country’s rise means for the United States and the rest of the world. Tse has spent more than twenty years working with senior Chinese executives, learning firsthand how China’s most powerful companies operate. He’s an expert on how private firms are thriving in what is still, officially, a communist country. His book draws on exclusive interviews and case studies to explore questions such as *What drives China’s entrepreneurs? Personal fame and fortune—or a quest for national pride and communal achievement? *How do these companies grow so quickly? In 2005, Lenovo sold just one category of products (personal computers) in one market, China. Today, not only is it the world’s largest PC seller; it is also the world’s third-largest smartphone seller. *How does Chinese culture shape the strategies and tactics of these business leaders? Can outsiders copy what the Chinese are doing? *Can capitalists really thrive within a communist system? How does Tencent’s Pony Ma serve as a member of China’s parliament while running a company that dominates online games and messaging? *What impact will China have on the rest of the world as its private companies enter new markets, acquire foreign businesses, and threaten established firms in countless industries? As Tse concludes: “I believe that as a consequence of the opening driven by China’s entrepreneurs, the push to invest in science, research, and development, and the new freedoms that people are enjoying across the country, China has embarked on a renaissance that could rival its greatest era in history—the Tang dynasty. These entrepreneurs are the front line in China’s intense hunger for success. They will have an even more remarkable impact on the global economy in the future, through the rest of this decade and beyond.”

Book Tech Titans of China

Download or read book Tech Titans of China written by Rebecca Fannin and published by . This book was released on 2023-10-17 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sliver award winner in International Business/Globalization 2020 Axiom Business Book Awards The rise of China's tech companies and intense competition from the sector is just beginning. This will present an ongoing management and strategy challenge for companies for many years to come. Tech Titans of China is the go-to-guide for companies (and those interested in competition from China) seeking to understand China's grand tech ambitions, who the players are and what their strategy is. Fannin, an expert on China, is an internationally-recognized journalist, author and speaker. She hosts 12 live events annually for business leaders, venture capitalists, start-up founders, and others impacted by or interested in cashing in on the Chinese tech industry. In this illuminating book, she provides readers with the ammunition they need to prepare and compete. Featuring detailed profiles of the Chinese tech companies making waves, the tech sectors that matter most in China's grab for super power status, and predictions for China's tech dominance in just 10 years.

Book China s Influence and American Interests

Download or read book China s Influence and American Interests written by Larry Diamond and published by Hoover Press. This book was released on 2019-08-01 with total page 223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While Americans are generally aware of China's ambitions as a global economic and military superpower, few understand just how deeply and assertively that country has already sought to influence American society. As the authors of this volume write, it is time for a wake-up call. In documenting the extent of Beijing's expanding influence operations inside the United States, they aim to raise awareness of China's efforts to penetrate and sway a range of American institutions: state and local governments, academic institutions, think tanks, media, and businesses. And they highlight other aspects of the propagandistic “discourse war” waged by the Chinese government and Communist Party leaders that are less expected and more alarming, such as their view of Chinese Americans as members of a worldwide Chinese diaspora that owes undefined allegiance to the so-called Motherland.Featuring ideas and policy proposals from leading China specialists, China's Influence and American Interests argues that a successful future relationship requires a rebalancing toward greater transparency, reciprocity, and fairness. Throughout, the authors also strongly state the importance of avoiding casting aspersions on Chinese and on Chinese Americans, who constitute a vital portion of American society. But if the United States is to fare well in this increasingly adversarial relationship with China, Americans must have a far better sense of that country's ambitions and methods than they do now.

Book The Great U S  China Tech War

Download or read book The Great U S China Tech War written by and published by . This book was released on 2020-03-31 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book US China Tech War

    Book Details:
  • Author : Nina Xiang
  • Publisher :
  • Release : 2021-09-04
  • ISBN :
  • Pages : 160 pages

Download or read book US China Tech War written by Nina Xiang and published by . This book was released on 2021-09-04 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: US-China Tech War: What Chinese Tech History Reveals About Future Tech Rivalry by Nina Xiang reviews the history of China's technology development and attempts to understand how it could shape current and future tech rivalry between the United States and China. The book focuses on the semiconductor industry, the epicenter of the current US-China tech rivalry. Despite decades of government-led effort to boost its chips industry, China has lagged far behind other countries and the country is extremely vulnerable to U.S. tech blockage. Why did China fail to achieve its goals after repeated effort? What does tightening technology blockage by the U.S. mean to China's tech space? How deep will the rift between the two countries' tech ecosystem be? The book dispels a number of myths about how China progressed technologically: the whole-nation model, forced technology transfer, and China's efforts to stimulate home-grown tech. With a deeper look, these hyped terms reveal a different side that would surprise readers. In addition, China's tech tradition and tech DNA have an important influence on China's technology development. The country's strength in tech applications has deep roots. This will also determine how U.S.-China tech rivalry will play out. Quotes from the book: "It became clear to Moore that, no matter how much science went into conceiving of silicon wafers, there would always be an artlike skill associated with their production." - Robert Curley "Let me tell you something: High-end semiconductor manufacturing is black magic. Both the processes and tools used for it are very complex. ASML's EUV lithography machine is probably the most complex tool humankind ever developed since it stopped jumping between trees. It took billions of Euros and decades of experience to perfect it. Other experienced lithography machine suppliers failed at it. China has no experience in high-end semiconductor manufacturing tools with the exception of one-off/few-off prototypes." - Bora Taş on Quora The belief in the value of scientific truth is not derived from nature but is a product of definite cultures. - Max Weber One sentiment which is assimilated by the scientist from the very outset of his training pertains to the purity of science. Science must not suffer itself to become the handmaiden of theology or economy or state. The function of this sentiment is likewise to preserve the autonomy of science. For if such extra-scientific criteria of the value of science as presumable consonance with religious doctrines or economic utility or political appropriateness are adopted, science becomes acceptable only insofar as it meets these criteria. In other words, as the "pure science sentiment" is eliminated, science becomes subject to the direct control of other institutional agencies and its place in society becomes increasingly uncertain. - Robert K. Merton

Book Attention Factory

    Book Details:
  • Author : Matthew Brennan
  • Publisher :
  • Release : 2020-10-10
  • ISBN :
  • Pages : 304 pages

Download or read book Attention Factory written by Matthew Brennan and published by . This book was released on 2020-10-10 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How did Tik Tok rise so fast? Who's really behind China's first truly global internet giant? In 2012, ByteDance was just a handful of geeks working out of a scrappy four-bedroom Beijing apartment. Today, it's the world's fastest-growing tech behemoth worth over $100 billion. Written by China internet specialist and internationally recognized speaker Matthew Brennan and edited by TechCrunch journalist Rita Liao. Attention Factory is packed with over 300 pages of original analysis and exclusive reporting that you cannot find elsewhere. The rise and fall of Vine and Musical.ly The company's iconic founder, Zhang Yiming The original China version of TikTok--Douyin ByteDance's first flagship app, Toutiao The power of short video memes And so much more... Discover how recommendation engines, content operations, and good old China-style growth hacking hold the key to this company's success. A creative blend of storytelling and analysis, Attention Factory is perfect for business professionals, technology firm investors, and anyone passionate about how the internet is impacting our lives. Get it now.

Book The Imagineers of War

    Book Details:
  • Author : Sharon Weinberger
  • Publisher : Vintage
  • Release : 2018-02-20
  • ISBN : 0804169721
  • Pages : 498 pages

Download or read book The Imagineers of War written by Sharon Weinberger and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2018-02-20 with total page 498 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The definitive history of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Pentagon agency that has quietly shaped war and technology for nearly sixty years. Founded in 1958 in response to the launch of Sputnik, the agency’s original mission was to create “the unimagined weapons of the future.” Over the decades, DARPA has been responsible for countless inventions and technologies that extend well beyond military technology. Sharon Weinberger gives us a riveting account of DARPA’s successes and failures, its remarkable innovations, and its wild-eyed schemes. We see how the threat of nuclear Armageddon sparked investment in computer networking, leading to the Internet, as well as to a proposal to power a missile-destroying particle beam by draining the Great Lakes. We learn how DARPA was responsible during the Vietnam War for both Agent Orange and the development of the world’s first armed drones, and how after 9/11 the agency sparked a national controversy over surveillance with its data-mining research. And we see how DARPA’s success with self-driving cars was followed by disappointing contributions to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. Weinberger has interviewed more than one hundred former Pentagon officials and scientists involved in DARPA’s projects—many of whom have never spoken publicly about their work with the agency—and pored over countless declassified records from archives around the country, documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, and exclusive materials provided by sources. The Imagineers of War is a compelling and groundbreaking history in which science, technology, and politics collide.

Book Winning in China

Download or read book Winning in China written by Lele Sang and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2021-01-19 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If Amazon can't win in China, can anyone? When Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos visited China in 2007, he expected that one day soon China would be a double-digit percentage of Amazon's sales. Yet, by 2019, Amazon, the most powerful and successful ecommerce company in the world, had quit China. In Winning in China: 8 Stories of Success and Failure in the World's Largest Economy, Wharton experts Lele Sang and Karl Ulrich explore the success and failure of several well-known companies, including Hyundai, LinkedIn, Sequoia Capital, and InMobi, as more and more businesses look to reap profits from the demand of 1.4 billion people. Sang, Global Fellow at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and Ulrich, Vice Dean of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Wharton School, answer four critical questions: Which factors explain the success (or failure) of foreign companies entering China?What challenges and pitfalls can a company entering China expect to encounter? How can a prospective entrant realistically assess its chances? Which managerial decisions are critical, and which approaches are most effective? Sang and Ulrich answer these questions by examining the stories of eight well-known and respected companies that have entered China. They study: How Norwegian Cruise Line's entry into China displays how cultural differences can boost or sink different companies; How Intel, one of the oldest, most respected firms in Silicon Valley, thrived in a country that seems to favor agile upstarts; How Zegna, the Italian luxury brand, has emerged as another surprising success story and how it plans to navigate new headwinds from the COVID-19 pandemic.Through these engaging and illuminating stories, Sang and Ulrich offer a framework and path for organizations looking for a way to successfully enter the world's largest economy. History can be a teacher, and China, a country with 3,500 years of written history, has much to teach.

Book Red Roulette

Download or read book Red Roulette written by Desmond Shum and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2021-09-07 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "THE BOOK CHINA DOESN'T WANT YOU TO READ."--CNN​ A riveting insider's story of how the Party and big money work in China today, by a man who, with his wife, Whitney Duan, rose to the zenith of power and wealth--and then fell out of favor. She was disappeared four years ago. News of this book led to a phone call from Whitney, proof that she's alive. As Desmond Shum was growing up impoverished in China, he vowed his life would be different. Through hard work and sheer tenacity he earned an American college degree and returned to his native country to establish himself in business. There, he met his future wife, the highly intelligent and equally ambitious Whitney Duan who was determined to make her mark within China's male-dominated society. Whitney and Desmond formed an effective team and, aided by relationships they formed with top members of China's Communist Party, the so-called red aristocracy, he vaulted into China's billionaire class. Soon they were developing the massive air cargo facility at Beijing International Airport, and they followed that feat with the creation of one of Beijing's premier hotels. They were dazzlingly successful, traveling in private jets, funding multi-million-dollar buildings and endowments, and purchasing expensive homes, vehicles, and art. But in 2017, their fates diverged irrevocably when Desmond, while residing overseas with his son, learned that his now ex-wife Whitney had vanished along with three coworkers. This is both Desmond's story and Whitney's, because she has not been able to tell it herself.

Book China s Great Wall of Debt

Download or read book China s Great Wall of Debt written by Dinny McMahon and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2018-03-13 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A stunning inside look at how and why the foundations upon which China has built the world’s second largest economy, have started to crumble. Over the course of a decade spent reporting on the ground in China as a financial journalist, Dinny McMahon gradually came to the conclusion that the widely held belief in China’s inevitable economic ascent is dangerously wrong. In this unprecedented deep dive, McMahon shows how, lurking behind the illusion of prosperity, China’s economic growth has been built on a staggering mountain of debt. While stories of newly built but empty cities, white elephant state projects, and a byzantine shadow banking system, have all become a regular fixture in the press in recent years, McMahon goes beyond the headlines to explain how such waste has been allowed to flourish, and why one of the most powerful governments in the world has been at a loss to stop it. Through the stories of ordinary Chinese citizens, McMahon tries to make sense of the unique—and often bizarre—mechanics of the Chinese economy, whether it be the state’s addiction to appropriating land from poor farmers; or why a Chinese entrepreneur decided it was cheaper to move his yarn factory to South Carolina; or why ambitious Chinese mayors build ghost cities; or why the Chinese bureaucracy was able to stare down Beijing’s attempts to break up the state’s pointless monopoly over the distribution of table salt. Debt, entrenched vested interests, a frenzy of speculation, and an aging population are all pushing China toward an economic reckoning. China’s Great Wall of Debt unravels an incredibly complex and opaque economy, one whose fortunes—for better or worse—will shape the globe like never before.

Book China s Economy

Download or read book China s Economy written by Arthur R. Kroeber and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2020-06-05 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: China's economic growth has been revolutionary, and is the foundation of its increasingly prominent role in world affairs. It is the world's second biggest economy, the largest manufacturing and trading nation, the consumer of half the world's steel and coal, the biggest source of international tourists, and one of the most influential investors in developing countries from southeast Asia to Africa to Latin America. Multinational companies make billions of dollars in profits in China each year, while traders around the world shudder at every gyration of the country's unruly stock markets. Perhaps paradoxically, its capitalist economy is governed by an authoritarian Communist Party that shows no sign of loosening its grip. China is frequently in the news, whether because of trade disputes, the challenges of its Belt and Road initiative for global infrastructure, or its increasing military strength. China's political and technological challenges, created by a country whose political system and values differ dramatically from most of the other major world economies, creates uncertainty and even fear. China's Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know® is a concise introduction to the most astonishing economic and political story of the last three decades. Arthur Kroeber enhances our understanding of China's changes and their implications. Among the essential questions he answers are: How did China grow so fast for so long? Can it keep growing and still solve its problems of environmental damage, fast-rising debt and rampant corruption? How long can its vibrant economy co-exist with the repressive one-party state? How do China's changes affect the rest of the world? This thoroughly revised and updated second edition includes a comprehensive discussion of the origins and development of the US-China strategic rivalry, including Trump's trade war and the race for technological supremacy. It also explores the recent changes in China's political system, reflecting Xi Jinping's emergence as the most powerful leader since Mao Zedong. It includes insights on changes in China's financial sector, covering the rise and fall of the shadow banking sector, and China's increasing integration with global financial markets. And it covers China's rapid technological development and the rise of its global Internet champions such as Alibaba and Tencent.

Book Red Carpet

    Book Details:
  • Author : Erich Schwartzel
  • Publisher : Penguin
  • Release : 2022-02-08
  • ISBN : 1984878999
  • Pages : 401 pages

Download or read book Red Carpet written by Erich Schwartzel and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2022-02-08 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This is a fascinating book. It will educate you. Schwartzel has done some extraordinary reporting." — The New York Times Book Review “In this highly entertaining but deeply disturbing book, Erich Schwartzel demonstrates the extent of our cultural thrall to China. His depiction of the craven characters, American and Chinese, who have enabled this situation represents a significant feat of investigative journalism. His narrative is about not merely the movie business, but the new world order.” —Andrew Solomon, author of Far from the Tree and The Noonday Demon An eye-opening and deeply reported narrative that details the surprising role of the movie business in the high-stakes contest between the U.S. and China From trade to technology to military might, competition between the United States and China dominates the foreign policy landscape. But this battle for global influence is also playing out in a strange and unexpected arena: the movies. The film industry, Wall Street Journal reporter Erich Schwartzel explains, is the latest battleground in the tense and complex rivalry between these two world powers. In recent decades, as China has grown into a giant of the international economy, it has become a crucial source of revenue for the American film industry. Hollywood studios are now bending over backward to make movies that will appeal to China’s citizens—and gain approval from severe Communist Party censors. At the same time, and with America’s unwitting help, China has built its own film industry into an essential arm of its plan to export its national agenda to the rest of the world. The competition between these two movie businesses is a Cold War for this century, a clash that determines whether democratic or authoritarian values will be broadcast most powerfully around the world. Red Carpet is packed with memorable characters who have—knowingly or otherwise—played key roles in this tangled industry web: not only A-list stars like Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie, and Richard Gere but also eccentric Chinese billionaires, zany expatriate filmmakers, and starlets who disappear from public life without explanation or trace. Schwartzel combines original reporting, political history, and show-biz intrigue in an exhilarating tour of global entertainment, from propaganda film sets in Beijing to the boardrooms of Hollywood studios to the living rooms in Kenya where families decide whether to watch an American or Chinese movie. Alarming, occasionally absurd, and wildly entertaining, Red Carpet will not only alter the way we watch movies but also offer essential new perspective on the power struggle of this century.