Tiger on the Brink: Jiang Zemin and China's New Elite

by Bruce Gilley

Book Overview

This pathbreaking book is the first full-length study of the rise to power of Jiang Zemin, now the central figure in China's "third generation" of leaders. Tracing Jiang's beginnings as a student in the underground Communist movement in Shanghai through his appointment by Deng Xiaoping as party general secretary and his sudden elevation to central authority in the wake of the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre in Beijing, Bruce Gilley offers a fascinating and...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0520213955
• ISBN13: 9780520213951
• Release Date: October 1998
• Publisher: University of California Press
• Length: 410 Pages
• Weight: 1.88 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Excellent introduction to the new age of Chinese politics

Gilley has written a thorough and scholarly, well researched book on Zemin, for Sinophiles and political addicts alike. He has an understanding of the motivations of Ziang in wishing to liberalise the Chinese economy, while holding on firmly to communist ideology. Also explained is the relationship between Ziang and Zhu Rongji, which while evident now, has a history steeped in Shanghai politics. A must read for all those interested in contemporary China.