Xi Jinping¿s "Soccer Revolution" is unique: the most extensive politicization and geo-politicization of the Global Game. His purpose is to extend the global softpower projection of "the Middle Kingdom": an ancient Western imperial mantra ("bread and circuses") has been replaced by a modern Eastern "imperial" mantra ("rice and pitches"). The Asian Football Federation shares this "allopathic" vision of East Asian soccer: the future is Asia and it starts in China! Soccer is a talisman for a New Asia in a New Era. For China soccer is a hubristic instrument of softpower projection. Softpower, Soccer, Supremacy: The Chinese Dream makes this point forcefully. In East Asia soccer in now "much more than a game"!

List of Tables - Acknowledgements - J.A. Mangan: Prologue: Xi's Chinese Dream: "Rice and Pitches" ('¿¿¿¿¿')-Imperial Strategies - Li Jinning/Keiko Ikeda: China, Politics and Soccer: The Era of the Cultural Revolution-The Immediate and Eventual Consequences for "The Chinese Dream" - Jiahao Hu: Chinese Sports Diplomacy: Intentions, Innovations, and Impediments-The Background to the BRI and BRICS Initiatives - Tobias Zuser: Building a Successful Superhighway: Soccer Revolution and the Realization of the Chinese Dream-An Overview - Emma Lupano: Dreams: The Pursuit of Consensus and the Display of National Power-Chinese Soccer Softpower Narratives - Leah (Xiufang) Li: Positive Projection: Soccer and Xi's Softpower Strategy-Branding, Intention, Ambition, and Assertion - Tobias Zuser/Lawrence Ka-ki Ho: "The Chinese Dream": Neglected Dimension-Who Is Chinese?Multi-Ethnic Soccer Representation - Tzu-hsuan Chen/Alan Bairner: Crossing the Penalty Area? The Dynamics of Chinese/Taiwanese Football - John Connell: Dreams, Desires, and Destiny: Football and Fantasies in China - PART 2: Korean Perspectives - Jong-sung Lee: Failed Diplomatic Tool: Soccer-An Evolving Soft Power Relationship between China and Korea - Kyoungho Park/Gwang Ok: From Chinese Neurosis to South Korean Nightmare: Soccer as a Shifting Barometer of National Self-Confidence - Udo Merkel: Sport as a Nation Branding Tool in Divided Korea: Soccer, Status, and Softpower - PART 3: Japanese Perspectives - Christian Tagsold/Sato Ryohei: Japan and China: Overview-Leagues and Clubs - Christian Tagsold: Meeting Xi's Ambitions with a Critical Eye: Japan's Reaction to China's Football Dreams-A "Further Caveat" - Colm Hickey: "The Guiding Light for the sport in Japan!"-Middlesex Wanderers and the Development of Football in Japan, 1967-2017: Regional Domination? An Anglo-Saxon Heritage of Supremacy to be Respected and Retained? - PART 4: Australian Perspectives - David Rowe/Keith Parry/Bonnie Pang: The China Question and Soccer in Australia - Peter Horton: Blinded by the Light! Hard Ball Disguised as Soccer: Interpreting China's Football Dream-An Australian's Reflection - Steve Georgakis/Andy Harper: Will Xi Jinping's China Soccer Dream Become Australia's Football Nightmare? - J.A. Mangan: Epilogue - Contributors - Index.