Part I. Introduction.- 1. Forward.- 2. Yao Yang: Public Intellectual, Liberal Economist, Confucian Pragmatist.- 3. Is a New Cold War Coming? - Part II. My family, my village and China’s modernization.- 4. The vanishing town.- 5. Three days back in the village.- 6. Before my grandfather’s portrait.- 7. My view of revolutionary history.- 8. China’s path of modernization and its implications for the rest of the world.- Part III. New wine in an old bottle: a new interpretation of Confucianism.- 9. The Confucian state: An ideal type of governance for China? .- 10. Go beyond liberal democracy: insights from Confucianism.- 11. Confucianism and liberalism: An ideal type of governance for China? .- 12. Confucianism and common prosperity.- 13. Restoring the true face of politics in Chinese history:  Qian Mu and his book Successes and Failures of Chinese Politics Throughout the Ages.- Part IV. Turning back to China: Understanding the CCP.- 14. The End of Ideology? .- 15. The Dilemma of China’s democratization.- 16. Understanding the Chinese Communist Party System.- 17. Sinification of Marxism: The CCP’s most urgent ideological challenge.

This is an authored volume of Dr. Yao's “big-picture” writings on China and the West, translated by David Ownby. Those writings are selected from his writings as a public intellectual, reflecting his thought on China’s path of modernization and the effort to rebuild a political philosophy based on Confucianism, his interpretation of China’s political system and his prescriptions to improve it. A moderate, yet influential scholar, Yao's work has had great influence on Chinese social and economic policymakers; his project of renewing China's traditional value system is an important position, as Chinese reforms begin to focus on equity and inclusion. In an engaging, at times personal, and thoughtful volume, Dr. Yao's vision of a gentler Chinese society will interest Sinologists, political scientists, and journalists.

Yang Yao is a Professor and Dean at Peking University's National School of Development in China.

David Ownby is a Chinese scholar at MontrealUniversity's Department of History and Center for East Asian Studies.