New Books Network Ho-fung Hung, "The China Question: Eight Centuries of Fantasy and Fear" (Cambridge UP, 2026)
Apr 6, 2026
Ho-fung Hung, a Johns Hopkins professor of political economy and China specialist, discusses how Western views of China swing between idealization and demonization. He explores how political interests, stereotypes, and Chinese state narratives shape those images. The conversation highlights lending myths, co-production of knowledge, self-orientalization, and why plural, deorientalized perspectives matter.
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Both Praise And Scorn Come From Simplification
- Western portrayals of China swing between contempt and naive idealization, but both stem from oversimplification rather than truth.
- Ho-Fung Hung argues the core problem is reductionist, monotonic descriptions that erase China's complexity across time and regions.
Debt Trap And Altruism Are Oversimplified Views
- The “debt-trap” and “benevolent lender” narratives about Chinese lending are both misleading simplifications.
- Hung shows Chinese loans often push Chinese exports and reflect domestic nonperforming-loan dynamics, not a coordinated imperial plan.
Data Exists But Stereotypes Still Win
- Information abundance today doesn't eliminate stereotype-driven misperception; political incentives and entrenched images still shape interpretation.
- Authoritarian control and self-censorship further limit nuanced public debate about China’s domestic realities.
