BOOK REVIEW: The Cashless Revolution: China’s Reinvention of Money And The End of America’s Domination of Finance and Technology

By Martin Chorzempa. Public Affairs, Hachette Group, New York. Hard cover, 301 pp with notes and index. US$29.

In January 2004, when Jack Ma was preparing to launch Alipay, the payment system for his burgeoning online marketplace, he wasn’t sure what he was getting into, either financially or legally. He feared he might be arrested. Nonetheless, sitting in Davos at the World Economic Forum, he decided to go ahead, calling his team in Hangzhou to say “Set Alipay …