This episode of Big Ideas is one of the better insights into the political and social complexities of China. The discussion features writer and media critic, Jianying Zha, sinologist and novelist Linda Jaivin and economist and writer Paul French.

They argue and debate way beyond the ‘Australian idea of China’ – the economic powerhouse and the country that’s keeping the Australian economy afloat, to a much more complex picture of democracy, trust in the civilian population, corruption, dispensing justice at a local level and the future of the Party structure.

Particularly good are the exchanges between Jianying Zha and Paul French. They agree to disagree on various aspects of Party leadership, the meltdown of the old structures, innate corruption and individual greed.

Jianying Zha has written two books in English; China Pop and How Soap Operas, Tabloids and Bestsellers are transforming a Culture and most recently the Tide Players, a collection of interviews with intellectuals and entrepreneurs who have prospered during the years of huge economic growth.

Linda Jaivin is a sinologist and novelist. Best known of her works is her erotic novel Eat Me. Her non fiction works include Confessions of an S &M Virgin and her China memoir, The Monkey and the Dragon. She is currently a Visiting Fellow at the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific.

Paul French is an economist and writer and a long term resident of Shanghai. His most recent work is the true crime story Midnight in Peking. His earlier works include Carl Crow: A Tough Old China Hand and Through the Looking Glass: China’s Foreign Journalists from the Opium Wars to Mao.

This China panel formed part of Adelaide Writers’ Week.