The reformist and open policy which Beijing adopted in late 1978 has transformed the overall structure of Chinese economy, society as well as its military. It is because of the success of this that China moved from an agrarian under-developed country to become the world’s factory. Its growth has made China the second largest global economy. The economic transformation has entailed significant investments in military modernisation and pursuit of advanced defence technology.

Xi Jinping became the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China in November 2012 and the President of the People’s Republic of China in March 2013. Ever since, under his leadership as the Chinese President, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been progressively tightening its control over the media. In a Communist structure, the media is perceived to be the ‘mouthpiece’ of the Party and is supposed to be used for propaganda. Media is a very essential tool in spreading the government agenda and controlling the public discourse.

In the last three decades, the Chinese economy and society have witnessed unprecedented change and development. Since the introduction of the economic reforms in 1978 under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping, China has transformed itself from an agrarian, underdeveloped economy to become the second-largest economy in the world, also uplifting its large population out of poverty; 600 million have undergone this transformation.1 Economic reforms have had a very strong impact on many aspects of Chinese society. One sector which has faced massive change is the Chinese media.

Richard McGregor, The Party: The Secret World of China's Communist Rulers, Penguin Books, London, 2012, Pound 9.99, ISBN 978-0-141-03885-8

Rowan Callick, The Party Forever: Inside China's Modern Communist Elite, Palgrave MacMillan, New York, 2013, 266 pp., Rs. 999, ISBN 978-1-137-27885-2

William A. Joseph, ed., Politics in China: An Introduction, Oxford University Press, New York, 2014, Rs. 1045, ISBN 978-0-19-533531-6

By extending the notion of national security to the domains of space and the earth’s poles, the Chinese government has expressed its determination to undertake every measure to safeguard interests even in areas beyond the national border.

East and Southeast Asia are known to get affected by various diseases routinely. Particularly, various waterborne and other diseases likely malaria and dengue fever commonly affect the regions. There is a concern that global warming may translate into explosive growth of mosquito-borne diseases. In addition to this, growing number of natural disasters are found escalating the health related challenges. All this eventually poses a threat to health, economic and human security.

China and India are the emerging economies in Asia and are in close geographical proximity to each other. What makes this relationship complicated is the fact that India and China have a disputed boundary and even though the relationship can be regarded as smooth historically, post-1962 the situation took a turn for worse.

China is India’s largest and most developed neighbour. Following the reform and opening-up policy adopted by the Chinese leadership in 1978, the country has developed at breath-taking speed. Today, the Chinese economy is the second largest in the world (in terms of Gross Domestic Product [GDP]), with a large amount of American treasury bonds in its possession. This economic growth has also extended to the Chinese military and security aspects.

The book China in and Beyond the Headlines is a collection of 16 contributions written by scholars and experts on various aspects of Chinese politics, society and economy. Considering that China has undergone a major transformation over the past decades since it opened its economy, this book provides a much-needed insight into the contours and extent of these changes and their impact. The most promising aspect of the book is that it provides information and analysis on almost all the aspects of changes within China.

The launch of Shenzhou 10 is a crucial step towards fulfilling China’s plans of building a space station by the year 2020 and equally an important part of China's rise.