Currency Wars

Currency Wars (simplified Chinese: 货币战争; traditional Chinese: 貨幣戰爭; pinyin: Huòbì zhànzhēng), also referred to as The Currency War, is an antisemitic essay by Chinese author Song Hongbing. Originally published in 2007, it gained a resurgence in 2009 and has been described as a prominent exponent of a recently emerged genre labeled "economic nationalist" literature. The premise of the book is that Western countries are controlled by a group of Jewish international bankers, which, according to Song, runs their central banks. It uses the claim that the Federal Reserve is a private body to support its role. Reportedly selling over 200,000 copies in addition to an estimated 400,000 unlicensed copies in circulation in 2009, it was a bestseller in China, reportedly being read by many senior level government and business leaders in the country. Unlike other books within the genre, e.g. Unhappy China, Currency Wars has been received more positively by the Chinese leadership as its recommendations are seen as less aggressive towards the US. It was however criticized as being far-fetched and relying on conspiracism. As of 2011, more than one million copies of this book have been sold.