A hint about the scope of China's ambition comes from the Chinese language word for the country itself -- zhong guo -- meaning "Middle Kingdom" where middle, in this case, refers to everything that lies between heaven and earth. The whole rise of the West has been largely regarded as an intervening "century of humiliation" on the way to this ultimate destiny. Thus, most everything we in the West have busied ourselves with on the geopolitical stage has been nothing more than a mere sideshow.

We'll discuss the following article from The Atlantic: What Xi Jinping Wants with the help of our City Club member, Stephan van der Mersch, a Mandarin speaker with an up-close-and-personal understanding of the country and the economy.