China's New Rulers: The Secret Files

by Andrew J. Nathan

Book Overview

At the Chinese Communist Party's 16th Congress in November 2002, a group of new leaders took over the world's most populous country. Their accession as the "Fourth Generation" of rulers of the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1590170466
• ISBN13: 9781590170465
• Release Date: October 2002
• Publisher: New York Review of Books
• Length: 150 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.8" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Excellent Read

This book is an excellent read for anyone who wants to know about China's rulers. Granted the "secret files" in the title made me a little skeptical, but after reading the book and reading other articles as well, this book feels "real." It will be interesting to see how the new leaders guide China and how they will react to the challenges that come up.To go along with this book, I recommend James C.F. Wang's "Contemporary Chinese Politics," the latest edition.

Look Inside Zhongnanhai

This book is great for anyone from a curious reader to an "expert sinologist" (who rarely know what they are talking about). While I would never advocate accepting any foreign policy text-especially one on China-without serious skepticism, I think this is an overall accurate look at the inside.As many of the other reviewers have noted, this book became dated as soon as it went to print, but that is not as big of a fault as one might imagine. With a quick glance at the news source of your choice (or the reviewer a little further down the page) will bring you up to date quite easily.My one disagreement worthy of mention is his definition of the world multipolarity- "many nations having a say in world affairs." While I agree that is what American pundits mean by the term, I would argue that Chinese politicians mean something slightly different. Praise for multipolarity is actually an effort to tie the US down to the UN (where China of course wields a veto) and other means of international oversight of US foreign policy decisions. There is a subtle difference between the meaning in the this word in the lexicons of the leaders of the two nations. America means it much as the authors describe it, but China means it as constrain America.

Fascinating, and loads of explanatory power

With the State and the Party so tied up together in China, trying to figure out the roles of the NPC, the State Council, the Politburo, Standing Committees, etc is extremely difficult! The best feature of this book is its ability to explain and clarify the role of each part of the Chinese government. Then again, maybe the best feature is its descriptions of the inside workings of the CCP. And then again, maybe the best feature is that after reading this book, you can read a New York Times article about Hu's possible liberal leanings, and say "What the?..." You'll know more than the average bear! Warning: This book is not necessarily an easy read, and will be most useful to those who take more than a passing interest in China.

A Fascinating Look at the Fourth Generation

Starting late last year, a new generation of leaders -- often referred to as the "fourth generation" -- began to take over the top posts in China. This book is something of a scorecard of what we might be able to expect from them as they lead China.Based on what is supposedly a Chinese insider's look at secret files on the new leaders, China scholars Andrew Nathan and Bruce Gilley write a highly readable account, focusing mainly on the seven men they expected to form the sixteenth Politburo Standing Committee (the book went to print before the announcement of the new leadership in November, 2002 -- however, most of the Chinese leaders it examines are still in power; with the exception of the early retirement of Li Ruihuan, it appears the authors were mainly correct in their early predictions). The authors also briefly deal with other PRC leaders, including the top women leaders and those early candidates for leading the fifth generation. One of the final chapters focuses on the way the new leadership sees China's place in the world, including most importantly its relationship with the U.S.This is a superb book that is not harmed by its being somewhat dated by recent events. Its only flaw is there is no index, leaving a reader to flail around when he wants to reread sections on particular leaders.

Inside background on Chinese leadership

This book is an interesting survey of the careers and prospects of the new group of rulers installed in China in November 2002 based on leaked, edited internal party reports as supplemented by background information provided by the leaker. The authors seem to be in a position to judge the credibility of this information, though I can only imagine that the information is filtered through some subtle lens which would only be detectable to the true insider. Now, this book went to press in September 2002 so it seems that some of the predictions did not come to pass and these issues may or may not be addressed in future editions.The book is well written straight forward account of the intrigues that led this group of men to the control of the lives of a billion people. Recent press reports show that this transition is just as opaque to the Chinese as it is to Americans, which only increases the importance of this book and its Chinese language counterparts.The compelling thing about this story is the bit of light it sheds on the Chinese power structure. There are a series of overlapping factions, interests and affinities of such small distinction that I am not sure that even the players fully understand the game. Prof. Nathan provides some information but does not attempt to explain it all in detail.