China After Mao: The Rise of a Superpower

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Slightly messy/confusing read where the story goes back and forth through the years, though chapters are denominated by distinct periods.

Everyone from Siemens to Matsushita and Ford got on board including the former opium dealer Jardine Matheson. protesters took over the center of Leipzig demanding an end to the East German regime and a month later the Berlin Wall fell. B., dass „Chinesen Banken nicht trauen“, wird durch Dikötters Analyse begreifbar – und ihre Gültigkeit bis heute. He examines China’s approach to the 2008 financial crash, the country’s increasing hostility towards perceived Western interference and its development into a thoroughly entrenched dictatorship – one equipped with a sprawling security apparatus and the most sophisticated surveillance system in the world.Xi has conducted repeated purges ever since, under the guise of the longest anti-corruption campaign in history, consolidating power in his own hands by setting up a series of “leading small groups” which he heads, and writing his “thought” into the constitution of the party and the country, while tearing up Deng Xiaoping’s constitutional safeguards against a recurrence of the kind of personality cult and dictatorship perpetrated by Mao Zedong. More to the point it was realized socialized business couldn’t compete with capitalist companies on a level playing field. His account is the first to be based on hundreds of previously unseen archival documents, from the secret minutes of top party meetings to confidential bank reports. Unfolding with great narrative sweep, this riveting, richly detailed chronicle recasts our understanding of an era that both the regime and foreign admirers celebrate as an economic miracle. As moves were made to address the deficiencies many outside observers thought China was transitioning from a planned economy to a market economy, and that democracy would follow, promoted by the Clinton administration.

Still though after having myself read a few books, including Dikotter's book on Mao's famine, dealing with China up until Mao's death in 1976, I personally cannot help but see that things have gotten a lot better for very many people there- so much technological and economic progress, as shoddy as a lot of it may be- that future generations may not judge the Chinese Communist Party quite so harshly. As moves were made to address the deficiencies many outside observers thought China was transitioning from a planned economy to a market economy and that democracy would follow, promoted by the Clinton administration. The CCP learned the value of hostage diplomacy for one single dissident as Japan ramped up Chinese investments by 40%. Rund 1/3 des Bandes nimmt der Anhang ein, mit Quellen, Register, Fotos, Verzeichnis der Archive eine wahre Fundgrube. I thought it was an enlightening, sobering and thought provoking work, which perhaps allows one to recognize 'repeated' themes - National security, foreign forces, endemic corruption, shadow banking, triangular debt, etc.

Drawing on hundreds of previously unseen archival documents, award-winning historian Frank Dikötter recasts our understanding of an era that both the regime and foreign admirers alike celebrate as an economic miracle.