Timothy Cheek - Living With Reform: China Since 1989

GLOBAL HISTORY OF THE PRESENT

Series editor | Nicholas Guyatt

In the Global History of the Present series, historians address the upheavals in world history since 1989, as we have lurched from the Cold War to the War on Terror. Each book considers the unique story of an individual country or region, refuting grandiose claims of the end of history, and linking local narratives to international developments.

Lively and accessible, these books are ideal introductions to the contemporary politics and history of a diverse range of countries. By bringing a historical perspective to recent debates and events, from democracy and terrorism to nationalism and globalization, the series challenges assumptions about the past and the present.

Published

Thabit A. J. Abdullah, Dictatorship, Imperialism and Chaos: Iraq since 1989

Timothy Cheek, Living with Reform: China since 1989

Alexander S. Dawson, First World Dreams: Mexico since 1989

Padraic Kenney, The Burdens of Freedom: Eastern Europe since 1989

Stephen Lovell, Destination in Doubt: Russia since 1989

Forthcoming

Alejandra Bronfman, On the Move: The Caribbean since 1989

James D. Le Sueur, Between Terror and Democracy: Algeria since 1989

Mark LeVine, Impossible Peace: Israel/Palestine since 1989

Hyung Gu Lynn, Bipolar Orders: The Two Koreas since 1989

Nivedita Menon and Aditya Nigam, Power and Contestation: India since 1989

Helena Pohlandt-McCormick, What Have We Done? South Africa since 1989

Nicholas Guyatt is assistant professor of history at Simon Fraser University in Canada.

About the author

Timothy Cheek holds the Louis Cha Chair of Chinese Research in the Institute of Asian Research at the University of British Columbia. He is also editor of the journal, Pacific Affairs. His research, teaching and translating focus on the recent history of China, especially the role of Chinese intellectuals in the twentieth century and the history of the Chinese Communist Party. His books include Mao Zedong and Chinas Revolutions (2002) and Propaganda and Culture in Maos China (1997), as well as New Perspectives on State Socialism in China (1997), with Tony Saich, and The Secret Speeches of Chairman Mao (1989) with Roderick MacFarquhar and Eugene Wu.

Living with Reform: China since 1989

Timothy Cheek

Zed Books

LONDON | NEW YORK

Living with Reform: China since 1989 was first published in 2006 by Zed Books Ltd, 7 Cynthia Street, London N1 9JF, UK and Room 400, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA

This ebook edition was first published in 2013

Copyright Timothy Cheek, 2006

The right of Timothy Cheek to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents

Act, 1988.

Cover designed by Andrew Corbett

Set in OurTypeArnhem and Futura Bold by Ewan Smith, London

Index <>

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of Zed Books Ltd.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

US CIP data are available from the Library of Congress.

ISBN 978 1 84813 727 1

Contents

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Nick Guyatt, the general editor for Zed Books Global History of the Present series, not only for drafting me into this project but also for his steadfast editorial support and shockingly extensive (and extremely useful) commentary on the first draft. My heartfelt thanks, as well, to the editors at Zed Books, particularly Ellen McKinlay, for their patience and encouragement. I am grateful for additional comments from the external reviewer, as well as from John Friedmann, Guo Xiaolin, David Kelly, Michael Schoenhals, James Spear, and Jeffrey Wasserstrom. This book is dedicated to Song Jin for advice, example, and encouragement, but mostly for reminding me how much I have yet to learn.

T.C., Vancouver

July 2006

Chronology

Preface: what does Tiananmen mean?

China is huge. For those who study it, it dominates our understanding of Asia and revolves as a giant planet in the international solar system; for those who do not, it is an immense gap of 20 per cent of global population in their understanding of our world. Yet China remains a great mystery to most people, and it regularly surprises specialists. Worse, it is an oriental screen of flat images and prejudices that dangerously pass as knowledge of the worlds largest nation, the Peoples Republic of China (PRC), and ancestral home of over 100 million overseas Chinese who engage with their culture in its current nation-state.