The Legacy of Tiananmen: China in Disarray

Miles spent eight years in Beijing, arriving in 1986 with UPI and staying on as the bureau chief of the BBC. It has been a tenure defined by the decline of the old guard and by the gamble Deng Xiaoping took when he ordered the shooting of student protestors, an act which resulted in some 5000 casualties and, later, hundreds of arrests. Seemingly forgotten by the West a few months after it happened, in China, Tiananmen did give pause to agitators both inside and outside the Communist Party. But, Miles argues, this was a hiatus. By brilliantly gathering together newspaper stories, street interviews, leaked official documents and Western chronicles, Miles creates a compelling story of economic change, internal political uncertainty and, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, ideological isolation. This is more than just narrative. Miles analyzes the results of Deng's 1992 endorsement of capitalist initiative (paired, always, with continued political control) and shows the fearful workers, de-stabilizing inflation, income disparity, corruption and rural crime behind the generally rosy official statistics. Miles also looks at the conflicting ideologies and personalities waiting in the wings. It's not a reassuring picture, but one that readers--and not just old China hands--should understand. This is an important book now and will be even more so any minute now. China is a very large, very powerful country, and Deng is a very old man. (June)