The book called When China Rules The World was published in 2009. In this essay, the author updates his original statements based on his thoughts in the 12 years since publication. Great stress is placed on his belief that China and its governance system are little understood by the world outside of China. In particular, the author stresses how scholars deeply mislead the world with studies that attempt to compare the communism of the Soviet Union with the communism of China. There is a special

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... focus on the Communist Party of China and how it has continually adapted to changes in the world. The latest change triggered by COVID-19 has increased awareness of how China is leading the world in economic development and innovation. This acceleration is described as the 'great transition', which was in turn also caused by a 'test of governance' forced by COVID-19. In that test, China scored well, while the EU and US failed. The evidence is in how the Chinese economy was able to achieve an annual growth rate of 6% by early 2021, while EU nations and the US were still struggling to control the pandemic. Keywords When China Rules the World • China and its governance system are little understood by the world • Compare the communism of the Soviet Union with the communism of China • Communist Party of China and how it has continually adapted • 'Great transition' • A 'test of governance' forced by COVID-19 In June 2009, the book called When China Rules the World was published, I wrote the book to capture profound global changes. This was the synopsis to describe the book's argument: For over two hundred years we have lived in a western-made world, one where the very notion of being modern was synonymous with being western. The book argues that the twenty-first century will be different: with the rise of increasingly powerful non-Western countries, the west will no longer be dominant and there will be many ways of being modern. In this new era of 'contested modernity' the central player will be China. Martin Jacques argues that far from becoming a western-style society, China will remain highly distinctive. It is already having a far-reaching and much-discussed economic impact, M. Jacques (B)