In the mouth of an old man fishing on the Oujiang River, it carries the authority of ancient wisdom: “Heaven is high; the Emperor is far away.” This Chinese aphorism, used since time immemorial to emphasize the distance between China’s government and the local, quotidian life of its people, encapsulates the challenges facing any attempt to understand the country’s future.

The world’s most populous state and the World Trade Organization’s newest member, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is an increasingly important member of the world community. All too often, however, China’s global character is taken for the whole: its international and domestic policy are reified, while the facts of everyday life in China are neglected by the media. Indeed, in order to understand the PRC’s future role in international affairs, it is necessary to investigate the local problems facing China’s people as well as pursue analyses of the policies promulgated by the Beijing government. Before it can be understood, China must first be demystified.

This issue’s symposium moves beyond traditional policy analysis to embrace a multidimensional understanding of the issues confronting China today. Drawing on his extensive experience with the Beijing government, Ezra Vogel embarks on this journey of demystification with a unified discussion of the PRC’s increasingly open international stance, its domestic economic and social challenges, and the new leadership that will carry these policies into the future.

Next, Wei Pan combines international and domestic lenses to analyze the potential consequences associated with recent attempts at political and social reform, as well as the continuing problem of corruption. Doug Guthrie both develops and narrows Pan’s analysis by examining market reforms and the prospects for capitalism, focusing on firm-level operations inside the country.

From these coastal market issues, Chien-peng Chung shifts to the interior of China to shed light on a set of issues largely neglected by the international media: Uighur separatism in Xinjiang and the effects of Beijing’s stance on terrorism. Also concerned with the condition of China’s rural communities, Chris Beyrer assesses the causes of China’s AIDS epidemic, the full extent of which Beijing has only recently begun to admit.

Finally, Xiao Qiang examines the Internet in China, the government’s control over information, and the development of new forms of civil society. As a virtual space, the Internet adds a new dimension to the discussion of local China and offers new prospects for China’s future.