Allen Bullock HST 407 7/24/2003
Jiang Zemin, as the President of China, will be leading the world's most populous country into the 21st century. A new biography of Mr. Jiang describes him as an economic reformer but not a political reformer and as someone often mistakenly believed to have blundered his way to power. Bruce Gilley is the author of the first western full-length study of the Chinese leader.
Historians, political scientists, and journalists hungry for reliable information about Chinese politics have to rely on official publications, and on the semiofficial and nonofficial accounts that bubble up in Hong Kong. These are the same methods of tracking and analyzing China's political movements that outsiders have used for decades. It is in this Byzantine context that Bruce Gilley has written Tiger on the Brink, a biography of Jiang Zemin and a highly readable account of modern Chinese politics. Unfortunately, Gilley is sharply limited by the same lack of access as every other student of Zhongnanhai. A correspondent for The Far Eastern Economic Review who covered China out of Hong Kong, Gilley has done an admirable job of scouring Chinese-language publications for tidbits about Jiang's personal background. But hamstrung by lack of information, this story of Jiang's decade at the top of China's Communist Party only partly satisfies.
Tiger on the Brink is essentially a first-rate job. However, Gilley had to rely overwhelmingly on secondary sources; as he relates in the preface, the closest he ever got to his subject was when he ran into the portly president in the men's room at the Great Hall of the People. And Jiang left the restroom before a surprised Gilley could think of a question to ask.
The big cat in the book's title apparently refers to China, not Jiang, for it is unlikely that anyone would ever mistake the genial and cautious leader portrayed by Gilley for such a ferocious creature. Gilley reinforces the assessment of Jiang as a politically slippery but tenacious survivor, less tiger than “Mr. Tiger Balm,” a moniker he once gave himself, which Gilley uses to head a chapter. Jiang Zemin emerges from this book as a skilled political tactician, who distinguished himself over nearly 50 years of Communist Party politics not as an intellectual or a fighter but by his ability to get along with superiors and inferiors alike, and by making use of an unsurpassed knack for currying favor with influential men.
Rae Yang’s Memoir “Spider Eaters” is a poignant personal story of a girl growing up amidst the political upheaval during the establishment of People’s Republic of China under Mao Zedong’s Communist leadership. Yang describes the fascinating journey of her life from her early years as the daughter of Chinese diplomats in Switzerland to a student in an elite middle school then a fanatic Red-guard and eventually a laborer in a pig farm. Her experiences through the revolution serve as an eye-opener and lead to her eventual disillusionment of the Communist revolution in China. There are many factors that contributed to her growing discontent with communism such as the anti-rightist movement which was an effort to rule out any criticism against the government, corruption and violence of the party leaders who abused their power and continued to exploit the peasants, the false claim of proletariat dictatorship used merely to eradicate bourgeoisie and further the interests of party members.
There are many historical references in the book to political figures. One specifically, there is a reference to T’ai-tsung, who is the current emperor of china at the time. “T’ang shows every sign of becoming the greatest emperor in history” (Hughart 1984, 35), according to Emily Mark from the Ancient History Encyclopedia, Taizong is “considered to be one of the greatest rulers in Chinese history” (Mark 2016). Taizong ruled from 626-649 CE, so we can imagine the period in which the novel takes
Gittings, John. The Changing Face of China: From Mao to market. Oxford University Press, 2005.
There is no better way to learn about China's communist revolution than to live it through the eyes of an innocent child whose experiences were based on the author's first-hand experience. Readers learn how every aspect of an individual's life was changed, mostly for the worst during this time. You will also learn why and how Chairman Mao launched the revolution initially, to maintain the communist system he worked hard to create in the 1950's. As the story of Ling unfolded, I realized how it boiled down to people's struggle for existence and survival during Mao's reign, and how lucky we are to have freedom and justice in the United States; values no one should ever take for
Jonathan Spence tells his readers of how Mao Zedong was a remarkable man to say the very least. He grew up a poor farm boy from a small rural town in Shaoshan, China. Mao was originally fated to be a farmer just as his father was. It was by chance that his young wife passed away and he was permitted to continue his education which he valued so greatly. Mao matured in a China that was undergoing a threat from foreign businesses and an unruly class of young people who wanted modernization. Throughout his school years and beyond Mao watched as the nation he lived in continued to change with the immense number of youth who began to westernize. Yet in classes he learned classical Chinese literature, poems, and history. Mao also attained a thorough knowledge of the modern and Western world. This great struggle between modern and classical Chinese is what can be attributed to most of the unrest in China during this time period. His education, determination and infectious personalit...
Both Twain and London explain two dreadful San Francisco earthquakes that took place in 1865 and 1906. However, they target different aspects of the destruction the earthquakes caused. As Twain’s focus’ on the destruction of the people during the 1865 earthquake, London focus’ on the destruction of the city in the 1906 earthquake.
Fairbank, John King. The Great Chinese Revolution 1800-1985. New York, NY: Harper & Row, 1986.
Deng Xiaoping was a force for evil and that he was responsible for taking away
George Washington, an incredible and fascinating leader to America. George Washington began as the general in the Revolutionary War, to being the first president of the United States. He had done so many tremendous things throughout his life. He even almost went completely bankrupt, but never gave up. Washington was an outstanding leader because he persevered, he was respectful, caring, confident, humble, and a stupendous listener.
Hwang’s play is primarily concentrated on Gallimard’s past in the 1960’s. At this time, John F. Kennedy was president of the United States, and China is a communist country; the United States from 1949-1969 tries “…to disrupt, destabilize, and weaken China’s communist government” (Nathan). China and the United States were deeply involved in the Vietnam War, on opposing sides; Beijing was a benefactor of military aid for Hanoi. According to Chen Jian’s Academic Journal China's Involvement in the Vietnam War, 1964-69, China’s leader Mao Ze...
More murderous than Hitler, more powerful than Stalin, in the battle of the Communist leaders Mao Zedong trumps all. Born into a comfortable peasant family, Mao would rise up to become China’s great leader. After leading the communists away from Kuomintang rule, he set out to modernize China, but the results of this audacious move were horrific. He rebounded from his failures time and again, and used his influence to eliminate his enemies and to purge China of its old ways. Mao saw a brighter future for China, but it was not within his grasp; his Cultural Revolution was not as successful as he had wanted it to be. Liberator, oppressor, revolutionary, Mao Zedong was the greatest emancipator in China’s history, as his reforms and actions changed the history of China and of the wider world.
Mark Twain is an experienced writer and knows that when one writes the words are a tool not only to craft a story with their simple meaning but can evoke something simply by the way they are structured. If someone were to expect the worst of Mark Twain and his writing they may say that his story on the earthquake becomes unfocused as it goes on and no longer narrates his experience in an order like the first half. They would emphasis that his narration becomes scattered as he lists these so called “Curiosities” of the earthquake with no obvious structure which in any way fits the first half. In his writing Mark Twain outlines the start of the fabled day of the “‘great’ earthquake.” as though the earthquake is the last thing he expects to occur. And why shouldn’t he “it was just afternoon, on a bright october day.” hardly the setting for such an event. Before and as the earthquake occurs the writing plays out on a classical narrative structure, events stay in order and constantly relate back to Mark Twain. But as the city crumbles around Mark Twain so does the prior structure of the essay. No longer does he refer to himself but goes from event to event with seemingly little care to how they are connected. Before judging any further take a step back. If a person were to find themselves in a disaster how would they process it? Before it occurred it would be likely to play out similar to the thoughts of any other day. And even as it begins one may hold together there composure but soon it is likely to fall apart. What they take in may become scattered, the proper way of thinking falls apart. The structure of the writing does not have a loss of focus in the sense that the author himself loses focus well writing but in the author losing focus during the event itself. And when proper thought falls apart what is left? Instinct. Throughout the latter half of the writing Mark Twain does not once
Zheng, Y., (1999), ‘Political Incrementalism: Political lessons from China’s 20 years of reform’ Third World Quarterly, 20(6): 1157-1177.
Foreign automakers are coming into the U.S with more brands, while the U.S automakers are going abroad to compete with other companies in the industry and improve its sales domestically and internationally.
Stakeholders of schools come in all different forms. The loyalty that these stakeholders show towards the school impacts the school in many different ways. Educators show their loyalty to the school differently than that of a local business or parent of a student. Educators will put in longer hours, staying after the final bell and coming in early before school. The educator maybe tutoring students, attending committee meetings or coaching an extra-curricular activity for the school. Other members of the school community may help with fundraising for the school, by raising money for the school to purchase new books, computers, etc. The administration will show its loyalty to the school by keeping classroom fair in regards to student volume. Class sizes stresses out an educator, the amount of students that are in the class, the amount of special education students in the class and the behavioral aspects of the students have a lot to do with how the school looks at the loyalty of the administrator.