Based on the establishment of the hegemonic order and the ways of its maintenance, Hegemony can be classified into two historical
patterns: power hegemony and regime hegemony. After World War II, America set up a series of international institutions in the fields of politics, economics and security so as to dominate the international society in every aspect. With the end of the cold war, America accordingly began amending the former international norms in compliance with the changing international situations, namely, building a democratic world with other western countries in the political sphere, on the basis of which building a new world order and weakening the role of the institutions of the United Nations; setting up new economic norms in the economic sphere which can serve America through controlling the World Trade Organization and propelling the liberalization process of the world trade and investment; advancing the construction of multilateral defense arrangement based on the military alliance, and speeding up the construction of the security system which aims at the threat to non-traditional security such as terrorism. The basic features of American hegemony are its active multilateralism and non-equity. However, the American hegemony also has some drawbacks. It still lacks completeness, adequacy and effectiveness. Moreover, its legitimacy is also insufficient. Facing the fact that America dominates the international institutions, China must take flexible and pragmatic counter-measures.