The Deng Xiaoping Era: An Inquiry into the Fate of Chinese Socialism by Maurice Meisner

by Maurice J. Meisner

A bold new history of the Deng years by a leading China scholar Unlike the former Soviet Union and the once "socialist" countries of Eastern Europe, China's current economy is now the world's second largest and most rapidly growing. Remarkably, today's problems in China are spiritual in nature-"a crisis of faith"-stemming from the clash between capitalist realities and lingering socialist values and ideas. "The Deng Xiaoping Era "is the story of that crisis and of Deng Xiaoping's promise of socialist democracy that has degenerated into bureaucratic capitalism. Maurice Meisner shows how the social contract between the Chinese Communist Party and the people was grossly violated by the Deng regime, and why capitalism has emerged as the dynamic force in today's socioeconomic and cultural life. Now, after more than a decade of capitalist reforms, he argues that Chinese spiritual malaise is deepening with the brutal suppression of the 1989 Democracy Movement and its politically repressive aftermath. This is an indispensable study of contemporary Chinese history-from the Chinese Revolution and the founding of the Maoist state to the establishment of the Deng regime and the social consequences of Deng's reforms-as well as a formidable analysis of the failure of the world's greatest socialist experiment.

Genres: China, History, Nonfiction

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Maurice Jerome Meisner was an historian of 20th century China and professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Reviews

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Less detailed than Vogel's, less focused on Deng himself, more of a broad overview of the era. Would really have liked to seen him discuss the Xuzhou railroad strike, not a word.

[Clayton Brannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read. Recommend to everyone who is interested in Deng. Very enlightening book. Helps explain a lot of what is going on in China today.

[Kushal Karwa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This treatise is a detailed investigation on the state of affairs in China during the post Mao - when Deng Xiaoping was the overarching leader of China. Deng Xiaoping's rule in China- lauded by the western media as the harbinger of growth and economic development - is dissected by the author as an era of undermining the socialist principles which ironically had brought the Communist Party to power in the first place.

[Nicholas · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you want to understand how the Chinese economy works (and why they aren't actually communists!) this is a great read.