The global power shift to the East, fact or fiction?

Abstract

China has transformed very rapidly during the last three decades and as a result has gained worldwide economical and cultural influence. Yet mainstream thinking in the Western world is filled with negative perspectives when it comes to China both in- and outside the academic world. The view that the West is the dominant power and the East are backward others is deeply embedded in the Western mind. But what is missing in most Western views of the world, including academic debates, is the voice of China and Chinese people. This thesis therefore explores how the next generation of China, the Chinese young intellectuals, has experienced these transformations, and how they view the cultural and economic power of China in relation to that of the Western world.