Ever since the onset of the global financial crisis in 2008, China's continuous rapid growth has led many to see the Chinese model as a viable alternative to neoliberal development. But in fact, rather than constituting a progressive alternative to neoliberalism, China's stellar economic growth was a core part of the global neoliberal order and part of the global imbalance leading to the crisis. China's apparent success in weathering the global financial crisis was grounded on an investment spree which is unsustainable and has started to create an economic crisis in China. China’s shift in growth model is necessary, but is also full of challenges and perils.

Ho-fung Hung is the Henry M. and Elizabeth P. Wiesenfeld Associate Professor in Political Economy at the Sociology Department of Johns Hopkins University. He researches global political economy, protest, and nationalism. He is the author of the award-winning "Protest with Chinese Characteristics" (2011) and "The China Boom: Why China Will not Rule the World" (2015), both published by Columbia University Press. His articles have appeared in the American Journal of Sociology, the American Sociological Review, Development and Change, New Left Review, Asian Survey, and elsewhere. His analyses of the Chinese political economy and Hong Kong politics have been featured or cited in The New York Times, The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News, BBC News, The Guardian, Folha de S. Paulo (Brazil), The Straits Times (Singapore), The South China Morning Post (Hong Kong), and Xinhua Monthly (China), People’s Daily (China), among other publications.