A public lesson in politics

"After reading this book, you will have a deeper understanding of how, as a massive community, a country navigates complex situations over decades or even centuries, survives, and evolves through continuous balancing and negotiation," Li says.

Since Politics of Democratic Breakdown came out in 2014, with an English version coming out in 2022, Bao has published seven books, including The Common Sense of Modern Politics in 2015 and Political Evolution: From Ancient Times to the Twenty-First Century in 2023. On Douban, a major Chinese review aggregator, more than 7,200 readers gave The Common Sense of Modern Politics a rating of 9.1 out of 10, making it Bao's most popular book so far.

Now Lectures on Politics is also getting a good reception, with another rating of 9.1 out of 10 on Douban. One reader named Hou Ying comments that "the book is a good means for the public to develop a basic understanding of political science, a subject that everyone seems to be able to comment on but actually knows little about".

Bao says: "Now if you want to learn politics, there are many platforms. However, there are also many short videos created for the sake of traffic, in which some creators present inaccurate information, fake news and rumors."

People tend to see international relations and politics through biases, and online dissemination has exacerbated the trend, he says.

"There is a formula for making videos to attract more views — tendentious ideas, simple expression and a clear attitude — designed to please fans. But this kind of formula results in many problems, including the misunderstanding of politics," he says.

For example, he says that many people mistake political science for the study of palace intrigue, which is just one possible topic of the discipline.

"Politics is omnipresent, not only in states, but also in companies and families, all human organizations," he writes in the book. Basically, politics is the way people live together.

Another major source of misunderstanding involves international relations.

"For one thing, international relations are very complicated. For another, public opinion can greatly influence the framing of international political issues on social media," Bao says.

His next book, The Fate of Civilization States: From Political Crisis to Modernization, is set to be published. It is about the political and economic transformation of civilization states of both the East and the West, including Russia, Iran, Egypt and India, following the rise of Great Britain in the 18th century.

For the next project, he plans to write a book that offers a new understanding of ancient Chinese political history from the perspective of modern social science and comparative politics.