Prisoner of the State: The Secret Journal of Zhao Ziyang

by Zhao Ziyang

Book Overview

In one of the biggest news events of the year, this work unveils the secret recorded diaries of Zhao Ziyang, the former Premier of China and the most powerful communist in that country ever to be deposed.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1439149380
• ISBN13: 9781439149386
• Release Date: May 2009
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 306 Pages
• Weight: 1.24 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.2" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Fascinating, informative, objective and inspiring

Anyone who has any interest in contemporary Chinese history or current state of China should read it. Even those who have no interest in China can benefit from reading this book (I will explain this later). I received the book as a gift when I was debating whether I should wait for its Chinese version and I was not supposed to have time to read it, but once I started reading it, I could not stop. Once I finished reading it, I could not help starting writing this review. Actually the Chinese version came out in Hong Kong on the day when I started reading this book and all of its 14,000 copies were sold out in two hours. It is very important to keep in mind what this book is not. It is not an autobiography. It is not a scholarly work trying to provide a complete account of certain historic events. It is primarily a person's memoir about two very important series of events of modern China - the June 4th incident and the economic reforms. The memoir was recorded secretly by a person under house arrest with little means to research. Since many people use autobiographies and memoirs to defend, praise themselves by twisting facts, telling partial truth or even tell outright lies, one cannot help asking whether this book falls into this category. My answer is firmly no. I draw this conclusion based on the following: 1.Everything in the book is consistent with various reports published by media that are not Chinese government mouthpiece, or anecdotes in the past two decades. In other words, it is very easy to find plenty of evidence to support the stories told in the memoir. 2.A common way to let people make the judgment on any controversy is letting two sides present their cases. The Chinese government has been exclusively presenting their case on the author and relevant events for two decades in China suppressing any dissent with iron fist (Latest news: all computers sold in China must be installed government mandated screening software from July 1, 2009 on) . This book will surely be banned in China. Their fear of dissemination of or inquiry about some facts shows the weakness of their arguments. Actually the author includes the complete list of the 30 points of the government's accusations against him (p 63). Some of them are true and Zhao was proud of them. The opposing side's arguments only add more credibility to the memoir. 3.Zhao is famous for his objectivity. This is reflected more than anything else by his treatment of Deng Xiaoping. Deng purged Zhao and he was the only person with the power to do this. He was also the only person who could free Zhao or offer a little bit more freedom that Zhao was yearning for, but he never did. Zhao did not use his memoir to bash Deng. To the contrary, he gave plenty of credit to Deng for playing a critical role in the reforms that he carried out. Even regarding Deng's decision to use the military to crack down the protests, he did not describe Deng as a ruthless butcher. His assessment of

State of the Prisoner

I actually read the book before writing this review - and this is a review only of this book and is not any kind of statement about the PRC or the events of 1989. This is a fascinating book, easily worth the five stars, if only because it is unique. The dramatic story behind its being published seems more movie script than true story. The story of the tapes does almost defy belief. He not only secretly made them, recording over his grandchildren's tapes, but he also made copies of them. These copies were passed out to his guests piecemeal without any of them knowing who else had one of the tapes. Then the masters were placed with the grandchildren's toys and he told no one. Was he hoping someone would discover them? The only identifying marks he made on the tapes were small numbers. Then, after his death they were "discovered". And - the rest of the story is history. That is truly amazing. What is also amazing is that he either had been squirreling away copies of documents and notes of conversations at his home or he had access to them even while under house arrest. The amount of detail (including quotes) of events more than a decade old is astounding. The comments I below are not against this book but to comment on much of what seems to be spin by Zhao Ziyang (the key word is "seems"). This is not a "memoir" - but rather a recounting of the events leading up to and following his removal from all office in the PRC. Was he a scapegoat for the Tiananmen disaster? Probably. Was he illegally and unfairly treated? Very likely. Was he, as he makes out, innocent of any culpability in what took place? Probably not. This is not the story of a nobody caught up in a system he doesn't understand; but rather the story of the holder of one of the most important positions in one of the most powerful nations in the world. Zhao Ziyang was a political veteran within the Communist Party and the PRC government. Even the editors admit Zhao could play politics with the best of them. Throughout the book he always presents himself in the most favorable light. He seems to have never have been aware of any back room deals and, of course, to have never made any himself - and to have constantly been amazed that such things were happening around him (and about him). But he does slip on one occasion to admit to slyly trying to subvert a position of Deng. Though he continues to remind those in power of the lack of legal basis to keep him under house arrest, not once does he specifically ask them what he has to do for it to end. How little would he have to bend to gain his freedom? He could then have decided whether to compromise or not. He stubbornly continued during his house arrest to try to fight city hall (the PRC central government). I find it hard to believe he actually thought the methods he was using would have any positive affect in his treatment and status. He doesn't seem to recognize the box the government was in. If they ever change his status, they wo

Excellent Insights to The Hidden World of Chinese Leadership!

Zhao Ziyang was Premier of the People's Republic of China from 1980-1987, and General Secretary of the Communist Party from 1987-1989. Zhao appears to have been the architect of economic reform, though he acknowledges that without Deng's support it could not proceed. At the height of the Tienanmen Square protests in 1989 Zhao tried to stop the growing confrontation and instead was removed from power and placed under house arrest for the rest of his life. Zhao utilized the time to produce a written and recorded memoir - those materials provide the foundation for "Prisoner of the State." The book includes details of the crackdown, as well as the power ploys used among China's leaders, and the thinking behind their economic reforms. The rationale behind China's economic reforms is particularly interesting. They began in an environment thick with ideological struggles, and sometimes hamstrung by missteps (eg. prosecutions of early innovators, overly one-sided demands and limits on foreign investment). Zhao's initial interest in economic reform derived from comparing 1980 vs. 1952 statistics (the latter was the year most agreed the economy was fully recovered from the civil war). During the time span, industrial output increased by 8.1X, GDP by 4.2X, and industrial fixed assets by 26X, vs. an average consumption increase of only 2X. Another motivator for change was that people were beginning to ask "What exactly is the advantage of socialism?" Before "liberation," eg. Shanghai was a highly developed metropolis, more advanced than Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan. But after a couple of decades of socialism, Shanghai had become run-down and fallen behind. Similarly, fears of handing over Hong Kong and Macau, and reunification with Taiwan were going to be difficult to overcome without economic development. Zhao concluded was that economic efficiency had been very low, and focused his thinking on providing people with increased returns on their labor and resolving the problems with property rights. Ultimately, Deng Xiaoping (Paramount Leader 1978-early 1990s) was convinced and prioritized efforts ("Four Modernizations") in the order of agriculture, industry, technology, and defense. Zhao then obtained a number of his ideas from overseas trips. An early lesson was that centralized decision-making created sub-optimum outcomes - eg. China tended to invest heavily in terracing and irrigation in arid areas, vs. other nations simply choosing to instead cultivate crops capable of growing without extra water. Initially the Chinese economy was quite insular. However, Zhao also learned that China would benefit from growing more sugar (less rice), and then selling the sugar and buying some rice overseas. Still another insight came from visiting Switzerland - there he found high productivity, despite small farms, because the farmers used cooperatives for expensive, specialized services and machines. This eliminated the Chinese rationale for large, collective fa

Let this State Secret be told to the world now...!

I just bought this book and I urge those who cherish freedom and human rights to buy this book too. The Tienanman Massacre in Beijing in 1989 has tarnished the image of the People's Republic of China. Today, its leaders are still reluctant to talk about this affair and have arrested those who want to tell the world the truth behind it. Now the late Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang, prior to his death has orally recorded on tapes who was really behind the ordering of this killing by the PLA...!!! However, the man responsible for killing the innocent and freedom-loving students was none other than the so-called Chinese Father of Economic Development, the late Chairman Deng Xiaoping. The sad truth is that the patriotic Zhao Ziyang only regained his freedom when he died as a prisoner of the Chinese state...! THE TRUTH IS SOMETIMES STRANGER THAN FICTION. So buy this earth-shaking book for its damned revelations before stock runs out. Cheers...~

Information never reveal to the public

This book is a must read for everyone who has interest in knowing the political arena behind the Tiananmen Square Massacre on 6/4/1989. The book was based on 38 audio tapes secretly recorded by ex-Premier Zhao Ziyang before his death in 2005. The Chinese government has no idea about the tapes until they were smuggled out of the country and later translated and published in English. This book is a biography of Premier Zhao about the massacre, provides an insight of the political and power struggle in months before the incident, and the dark side of Deng Xiaoping that most people are not aware of. This book comes at a time of the 20th anniversary of the massacre, reminds us of the price of democracy, and the justice that is still awaiting.