THE PARTY: The Secret World of China's Communist Rulers, by Richard McGregor. Harper, 2010, 320 pp., $27.99 (hardcover)

The rise of modern China to economic giant and politico-military superpower has mesmerized politicians and business leaders and led to much wishful thinking about China's future development.

Many observers hope that the new middle class spawned by economic growth will not be satisfied with increased wealth but will demand political freedoms to match their freedom to make money. Some think that the Internet and modern communications will force China to change.

Others think that corruption will get so far out of control that it will undermine the regime or that popular unrest caused by the widening gap between rich and poor will become endemic. But chaos in China can hardly be in the interests of other powers.