China's rise has become an accepted fact of global politics, but rarely do scholars make the effort to examine precisely what is happening and to explore how it is occurring. At last, there is a study that concentrates on the power dimensions of this phenomenon. As David M. Lampton explains, “This book is about China's growing power, the diversity of this power, the uneven growth among its various forms of power, and what this means for the rest of the world” (p. 5). Lampton notes that Chinese leaders have long recognized that an imbalance of power is problematic, as a state needs to have comprehensive national power to be strong and secure. With a depth and breadth of knowledge acquired from decades of research and an extensive array of well-informed contacts both inside China and around the Asia-Pacific region, Lampton is well qualified to assess the different faces of Chinese power.

Lampton examines the process of power accumulation in detail by considering what he calls the “three faces” of China's strength: “coercive power” (might), “economic power” (money), and “ideational power” (minds). He uses these categories broadly, and this allows him to explore dimensions that less probing researchers would overlook. Thus, while the chapter on coercive power focuses mostly on the growing capabilities of the People's Liberation Army, it covers much more and includes topics such as “military coercion” and “isolation.” The latter discussion is particularly relevant because the case study is Taiwan. Meanwhile, in the chapter on economic power, in addition to the pages spent analyzing China's “buying power” and “investing power,” Lampton explores the significance of Beijing's foreign aid program and China's emergence in 2003 to surpass Japan as the “leading source of Asian tourists” (p. 158). Then, in the chapter on ideational power, he examines more than what is usually encompassed by the term “soft power” in addressing education, research, innovation, in addition to diplomacy. Lampton thus demonstrates how China's increasingly skilled and educated workforce—what he calls “human resources”—as well as its professional cadre of highly competent and cosmopolitan diplomats enable Beijing to exercise influence around the world.

There is also a thorough chapter on how China's growing power is affecting and is perceived by countries in the Asia-Pacific region. While certainly not news to most readers of this journal, many Americans will be surprised to learn that U.S. views of China differ significantly from those of most of the countries in China's neighborhood. Another chapter—perhaps the most important one in the volume—analyzes the pressures that China's Communist rulers have weighing upon them day after day. Beijing knows that its greatest challenges lie in the domestic realm rather than in the foreign policy arena. Of course, the two are linked both in reality and in the minds of the party elites. As Lampton observes, “[China's] mounting comprehensive strength must be viewed in relationship to the rising total volume of demand placed upon that strength” (p. 250). This point is important for other countries to keep in mind as they monitor China's rise from the outside looking in.

The book is chock-full of quotations and statistics. The strength of this approach is that it allows the reader to hear authentic Chinese voices unfiltered and uncensored and to discover vast amounts of data. The drawback is that the reader is bombarded by what almost amounts to information overload. Fortunately, Lampton does not permit readers to lose their way, and the overarching framework enables one to navigate the ocean of data and arrive at a deeper understanding of and appreciation for the expanding nature as well as limitations of Chinese national power.

This even-handed and comprehensive volume—the tiny print not withstanding—is eminently suitable as a text for graduate students or as supplemental reading for advanced undergraduates. Moreover, for Asianists of any discipline who want to keep abreast of the latest scholarship on China's rising power, this book should be required reading.