China without Mao: The Search for a New Order

Now available in a new, updated edition, this groundbreaking book on post-Mao China, written by the distinguished Asian scholar Immanuel C.Y. Hsü, explores the astonishing transformation that has occurred there. Since Mao Zedong's death in 1976, China's leaders have launched an ambitious modernization program aimed at making their nation a relatively prosperous socialist state by the year 2000. Along with the first edition's examination of the smashing of the Gang of Four, the evolution of a new order under Deng Xiaoping, the manner and costs of modernization, the normalization of relations with the United States, and the prospects for reunification with Taiwan, the second edition offers an insider's view into China's policies of accelerated economic development and opening to the outside world, adopted at a December 1978 party conference. Focusing on the cultural impact of these policies, Hsü candidly reveals both the improved standard of living and the serious fundamental problems--including high inflation, widespread corruption, crises in leadership, loss of faith in communism, and especially the recent student protests--resulting from these recent developments. The new edition also includes a postscript which takes into account the causes and consequences of the Tian An Men Square massacre in June of 1989.

About the Author :
Immanuel C.Y. Hsü is Professor of History at the University of California at Santa Barbara. He is the author of several books on Chinese history, including The Rise of Modern China, now entering its fourth edition.

Review :
Praise for the first edition: "A balanced and thoughtful account."--Foreign Affairs "Clear and insightful....A succinct, incisive treatment of recent Chinese political history."--Library Journal "Excellent...enlightening...[and] challenging."--Perspective "A book that is worth reading--for both the scholar and the layman....Excellent...enlightening...[and] challenging."--Perspective Praise for the second edition "[A] thought provoking explanation of recent events and their place in contemporary Chinese history...better than the first edition."--Lewis Bernstein, Boise State University "This is a timely and important book that places contemporary China in the context of the tremendous changes that have occurred since 1976."--Robert Antony, Western Kentucky University "A critical text, [China Without Mao] fills a very important gap. The preface, written months before the ugly events of May-June 1989, is remarkably prescient."--Hugh R. Clark, Ursinus College "Excellent!"--Edward Zebrowski, Edinboro University of Pennsylvania "A good general survey of some difficult terrain."--R. J. Smith, Rice University "It is clearly and simply written thus making it accessible to a wide audience....Hsu brings the same meticulous detail to these [new] chapters as to his earlier work."--China Quarterly