A world superpower without a soul: In search of Chinese culture

Who or what will make Chinese economic and political dominance palatable across the world?

The writer Ian Jack, a Londoner of Scottish origin, once spoke of his country as being “formerly known as Great Britain”. This was characteristically wry and apposite; for the political and economic decline of the United Kingdom has been under way for many decades now. Yet there is one area in which Britain is still Great; the quality of its periodicals. The Financial Times is the best daily newspaper in the world, superior to both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. And when it comes to weekly magazines, The Economist is in a class of its own.

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