China

George Walden specialised in China at the Foreign Office and was one of the few Westerners in China in 1964 who spoke Mandarin. In this razor-sharp analysis he argues that we compare the country to Britain or the United States at our peril. The Chinese juggernaut that has launched on to the world stage is of a size without any precedent in human history. Every year 30 million Chinese migrate from the countryside to the city. The only way to grasp what our future with China is going to be like for the next 30 years is to view its culture and insecurities on its own terms.