 | |
| Author | Ezra F. Vogel |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Harvard University Press |
Publication date | September 26, 2011 |
| ISBN | 9780674055445 |
| OCLC | 756365975 |
| LC Class | DS778.T39 V64 2011 |
Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China is a 2011 biography about Deng Xiaoping written by Ezra F. Vogel and published by The Belknap Press/Harvard University Press.
In May 2012 the Chinese University Press of Hong Kong published the first Chinese translation, unabridged, with versions using both Traditional and Simplified characters. In January 2013 Sanlian Publishing House published a Simplified Chinese version for Mainland China. The Mainland version was adopted from the Hong Kong translation, but was subject several minor changes due to censorship; most of the changes were centered on negative descriptions or adjectives describing Chinese leaders. [1] [2]
The initial reviews praised Vogel's book as detailed and well-grounded, generally favorable, but not without criticism. Jonathan Mirsky of The New York Times described the book as "wide-ranging" and wrote that the coverage of Deng's changes to the Chinese economy is the "most valuable part of" the book. [3] John Knight, a PhD candidate stated that the book "provides much insight into" Deng and that "for those interested in learning more about China's present, Vogel's study is a delightful read." [4] Reviewers also mentioned controversial points. John Pomfret wrote in The Washington Post that Vogel "clearly believes that Deng — known in the West mostly for engineering the slaughter of protesters in the streets near Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989 — has been wronged by history. His tome is an attempt to redress the balance." [5]
In the London Review of Books , Perry Anderson sharply criticized Vogel as "a booster" and the book as "an exercise in unabashed adulation" in which "anything in Deng’s career that might seriously mar the general encomium is sponged away", noting how "Vogel devotes just 30 pages, out of nearly 900, to the first 65 years of Deng’s life". He also critiqued the book for exaggerating the significance of certain events, such as Deng’s "universally forgotten" 1974 speech at the United Nations. [6]
Academic Lan Xiaohuan describes the book as clearly-written, meticulously researched, and easy to read. [7] According to Lan, the book is Vogel's masterpiece. [7]
As of 2020, the Mainland Chinese version sold 1,200,000 copies, while the U.S. version sold 45,000 hard copies and 9,400 ebooks. [2]
The book received the Lionel Gelber Prize, a literary award for excellency in literature related to foreign policy. [8] [9]
Deng Xiaoping was a Chinese revolutionary and statesman who served as the paramount leader of the People's Republic of China from 1978 to 1989. Following the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, Deng eventually consolidated power to lead China through a period of Reform and Opening Up that transformed China's economy into a socialist market economy. He is widely regarded as the "Architect of Modern China" for his contributions to socialism with Chinese characteristics and Deng Xiaoping Theory.
Ezra Feivel Vogel was an American sociologist who wrote on modern Japan, China, and Korea. He was Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences at Harvard University.
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In the People's Republic of China, Deng Xiaoping formally retired after the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, to be succeeded by former Shanghai CCP secretary Jiang Zemin. During that period, the crackdown of the protests in 1989 led to great woes in China's reputation globally, and sanctions resulted. The situation, however, would eventually stabilize. Deng's idea of checks and balances in the political system also saw its demise with Jiang consolidating power in the party, state and military. The 1990s saw healthy economic development, but the closing of state-owned enterprises and increasing levels of corruption and unemployment, along with environmental challenges continued to plague China, as the country saw the rise to consumerism, crime, and new-age spiritual-religious movements such as Falun Gong. The 1990s also saw the peaceful handover of Hong Kong and Macau to Chinese control under the formula of One Country, Two Systems. China also saw a new surge of nationalism when facing crises abroad.
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Prisoner of the State: The Secret Journal of Premier Zhao Ziyang are the memoirs of the former General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, Zhao Ziyang, who was sacked after the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre. The book was published in English in May 2009, to coincide with the twentieth anniversary of the clearing of the square by tanks on June 4, 1989. It is based on a series of about thirty audio tapes recorded secretly by Zhao while he was under house arrest in 1999 and 2000.
Yuhuatai Memorial Park of Revolutionary Martyrs (雨花台烈士陵园) is a park and tourist site in the Yuhuatai District of Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China. The name Yuhuatai comes from yu (rain), hua (flower), tai (platform). A prominent feature of the park is a statue of nine figures. The statue commemorates the Chinese Communist Party members killed by the Kuomintang.
Deng Xiaoping and the Making of Modern China is a book by Sir Richard Evans chronicling the rise of Deng Xiaoping as the leader of the People's Republic of China. The first British edition was published in 1993 by the Hamilton company. The first American edition was published by Viking Books in 1993. This was Evans's first book. Evans had served as the Ambassador of the United Kingdom to China, from 1984 to 1988. To conduct his research, with approval of PRC officials, Evans had interviewed several PRC governmental officials. At the time of publication, there were multiple books about Deng Xiaoping being published in Chinese and English.
Yuan Geng, born Ouyang Rushan, was a Chinese guerrilla fighter, war hero, spy, policy visionary, and serial entrepreneur on behalf of the Chinese state. He was an early proponent of China's reform and opening up, and went on to create Shekou Industrial Zone, China International Marine Containers, CSG Holding, China Merchants Bank, and Ping An Insurance.
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Deng Xiaoping's southern tour, or 1992 southern tour, or simply Nanxun was the tour of Deng Xiaoping, the former paramount leader of China, in southern China, including in Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Guangzhou and Shanghai, from January 18 to February 21, 1992. The talks and remarks made by Deng during the tour resumed and reinforced the implementation of his "Reforms and Opening-up" program in mainland China, which had come to a halt after the military crackdown on 1989 Tiananmen Square protests ordered by Deng himself. After Tiananmen Square, there was a lack of belief in the Chinese Communist Party both at home and abroad. The US and EU both issued arms embargos while the World Bank and Asian Development Bank stopped issuing loans to China. The 1992 Southern Tour is widely regarded as a critical point in the modern history of China, as it saved the Chinese economic reform as well as the capital market, and preserved societal stability. It not only preserved stability inside of China, but it was reassuring to foreign countries who had begun to invest large amounts of money into China.
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