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China Hands: Nine Decades of Adventure, Espionage, and Diplomacy in Asia
James Lilley's life and family have been entwined with China's fate since his father moved to the country to work for Standard Oil in 1916. Lilley spent much of his childhood in China and after a Yale professor took him aside and suggested a career in intelligence, it became clear that he would spend his adult life returning to China again and again.
Lilley served for twenty-five years in the CIA in Laos, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Taiwan before moving to the State Department in the early 1980s to begin a distinguished career as the U.S.'s top-ranking diplomat in Taiwan, ambassador to South Korea, and finally, ambassador to China. From helping Laotian insurgent forces assist the American efforts in Vietnam to his posting in Beijing during the Tiananmen Square crackdown, he was in a remarkable number of crucial places during challenging times as he spent his life tending to America's interests in Asia. In China Hands, he includes three generations of stories from an American family in the Far East, all of them absorbing, some of them exciting, and one, the loss of Lilley's much loved and admired brother, Frank, unremittingly tragic.
China Hands is a fascinating memoir of America in Asia, Asia itself, and one especially capable American's personal history.
Lilley served for twenty-five years in the CIA in Laos, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Taiwan before moving to the State Department in the early 1980s to begin a distinguished career as the U.S.'s top-ranking diplomat in Taiwan, ambassador to South Korea, and finally, ambassador to China. From helping Laotian insurgent forces assist the American efforts in Vietnam to his posting in Beijing during the Tiananmen Square crackdown, he was in a remarkable number of crucial places during challenging times as he spent his life tending to America's interests in Asia. In China Hands, he includes three generations of stories from an American family in the Far East, all of them absorbing, some of them exciting, and one, the loss of Lilley's much loved and admired brother, Frank, unremittingly tragic.
China Hands is a fascinating memoir of America in Asia, Asia itself, and one especially capable American's personal history.
448 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
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November 30, 2013
Through this personal memoir, you get an insider's view on how intelligence and diplomatic communities work with and against each other and how they influence and are influenced by elected officials. It's a delicate dance of meetings, hierarchies, secrets and logistics.
I like that Lilley first introduces himself to us through his childhood in China. Unlike other reviewers, I felt that the discussion of his brother was appropriate and just enough (not too much) for us to understand him and the significance his work had had for him.
We follow Lilley through his covert operations to being, through wide experience (and I presume great competence), exactly the man for various important jobs when decisions are made to re-establish relations with China. Lilley, refreshingly, loves his work, and tells us what he is proud of and unabashedly, about his mistakes.
I was surprised to see some aspects of the CIA work in print. While it is a moot point that Lilley flaunted British law in his CIA work in Hong Kong and Chinese law/protocol in China, I wondered about the propriety of these open admissions. Even more surprising to see in print was the founding of communist groups in the Middle East to create fellow travelers who could travel to China. I presume these things, since they appear publically here, along with the CIA'S 1960's work in Laos are now common knowledge. Lilley writes some of them in sketches, some in facts, some in passing. He gives no analysis or discussion of ramifications or controversies of these activities. His straightforward approach to these assignments was probably essential to doing this kind of work.
Also of interest to those like me who often wonder how things "work", were the two "outings" he had, and how he overcame them to continue a useful career, a career he sees not as something for him, but something important for his country.
Lilley is clearly loyal to family, friends and country. His career flourishes with Republicans and he is loyal to them too. The problems caused by balancing Taiwan and China, and conflicts within and across administrations are presented with criticism of the Carter administration, but the framing of similar problems posed by Reagan/Bush (who do not agree on the China-Taiwan balance) are framed as "challenging". He minimizes Fitzwater's exposure of the dissident Lilley was harboring in the embassy which results in over a year of domestic logistics and unneeded complications in relationships. (This dissident did not prove to share Lilley's quality of loyalty.)
Lilley and his various teams were skillful in managing Chinese relations in turbulent times, and the world owes him for this. If you are interested in the Asia and the daily grind of the people who make it all happen, this book is for you.
August 8, 2010
A fantastic memoir from a true "China hand," Lilley's vast experience in East Asia (born in Qingdao, China; later served as a CIA case officer in many Asian locales; went on to be U.S. Ambassador to China, South Korea, and Taiwan (ambassador equivalent)) makes for an engrossing and multifaceted book. It's interesting to see how Lilley leveraged personal connections (for instance, to George H. W. Bush) to garner some pretty choice assignments in the latter stages of a 4-decade career of government service, but his assignments were clearly a marriage of opportunity with "the right man for the job." Particularly interesting is the section near the end, while Lilley is the U.S. envoy to China, dealing with the unfolding June 4, 1989 Tiananmen Square Incident. A key player in Lilley's defense attache office was Larry Wortzel, whose name I recognized as currently a highly-regarded China expert in U.S. government circles, but in 1989 a hard-charging U.S. Army major working in Beijing and getting things done for Ambassador Lilley as chaos erupted all around them. At the same time I was reading Lilley's account of 6/4, I was listening to Zhao Ziyang's recollections of the events leading up to Tiananmen (his book is called "Prisoner of the State"; see my separate review of that book off my profile page). Comparing the two accounts is I think a useful way to see the unfolding events from two very different viewpoints, both of which are critical to understanding what happened and why).
June 14, 2022
outstanding memoir ... with lots of incidents, details and observations which will be most useful in my novel-in-process ... I am considering making James Lilley, who was the only CIA designate to the U.S. Liaison Office in Beijing, a character in the novel, and having him interact for the year 1973 with one of my major fictional characters
here is Lilley's sense of China in 1973 ... violent stage of Cultural Revolution had petered out ... political infighting continued ... pragmatists led by Zhou and soon to include Deng Xiaoping ... vs radicals led by Jiang Qing (Mao's wife) ... Zhou favored a downplaying of the harsh ideology while radicals espoused Mao thought and called for carrying the revolution to the end ... Mao stood above the fray but manipulated the players for his own ends ... Zhou had a violent past ... he opened channels to the U.S. because China needed a counterweight to the Soviet Union in order to survive ... Zhou kept Mao's confidence (and his position/life) by supporting some of Mao's far-out ideas ... the political battle was carried out through the media under the guise of campaign slogans ... a war of words ... Lilley wondered what ordinary Chinese riding their bikes to work each morning thought about the slogans they passed
here is Lilley's sense of China in 1973 ... violent stage of Cultural Revolution had petered out ... political infighting continued ... pragmatists led by Zhou and soon to include Deng Xiaoping ... vs radicals led by Jiang Qing (Mao's wife) ... Zhou favored a downplaying of the harsh ideology while radicals espoused Mao thought and called for carrying the revolution to the end ... Mao stood above the fray but manipulated the players for his own ends ... Zhou had a violent past ... he opened channels to the U.S. because China needed a counterweight to the Soviet Union in order to survive ... Zhou kept Mao's confidence (and his position/life) by supporting some of Mao's far-out ideas ... the political battle was carried out through the media under the guise of campaign slogans ... a war of words ... Lilley wondered what ordinary Chinese riding their bikes to work each morning thought about the slogans they passed
January 6, 2012
China Hands by James Lilley is a surprisingly poorly written book filled with disingenuous recollections and littered with propagandist sleights against the US Democratic Party and State Department. The prose is often times sloppy, juvenile and very cliched. It is completely uninspired writing. I would love to show example after example but it is so awful that I dont want to look at it anymore or spend anymore time thinking about it.
James Lilley comes across as a sort of genial half-wit with just a cursory knowledge of the Chinese language and a philistinic attitude toward Chinese culture.
This was a stunning disappointment and frequently, an angering book. I feel that he was an embarrassment to the US diplomatic corps and the nation.
It was also a boring book. There was no interesting cloak and dagger stuff or even behind-the-scenes intelligence revelations, just one little vapid what-I-did-on-my-Summer-vaction report after another. This book is a total waste of time for anyone except the most masochistic of scholars with some need of research in the field.
James Lilley comes across as a sort of genial half-wit with just a cursory knowledge of the Chinese language and a philistinic attitude toward Chinese culture.
This was a stunning disappointment and frequently, an angering book. I feel that he was an embarrassment to the US diplomatic corps and the nation.
It was also a boring book. There was no interesting cloak and dagger stuff or even behind-the-scenes intelligence revelations, just one little vapid what-I-did-on-my-Summer-vaction report after another. This book is a total waste of time for anyone except the most masochistic of scholars with some need of research in the field.
March 24, 2008
China Hands: Nine Decades of Adventure, Espionage, and Diplomacy in Asia by James Lilley (with his son, Jeffrey Lilley) is a fascinating look at the author's international life from his childhood in China to working as a CIA operative to serving as an ambassador.
I find that I absorb history better when it's told in the first person. Granted, it's likely a biased view, but it's still valid. Lilley was involved in some momentous events, particularly serving as the American Ambassador to China during the Tiananmen Square uprising. I highly recommend it for a personal and political look at Asia during the 20th century.
I find that I absorb history better when it's told in the first person. Granted, it's likely a biased view, but it's still valid. Lilley was involved in some momentous events, particularly serving as the American Ambassador to China during the Tiananmen Square uprising. I highly recommend it for a personal and political look at Asia during the 20th century.
January 20, 2025
I would say maybe 3.5.
Although the writing was light and pleasant, and I really loved the first chapters related to his childhood and teenage years in Tsingtao and else where in China, I do not think I would have a lot of take aways from this book.
Most of it follow indeed key events in Asia which were was happening around Liley during his different positions. But a lot of the description stipulate overall what those events were, and the first hand experiences of those events didn't come trough in any particuliar manner. They were also competing with second-hand experience of some others around him, but still kept rather short. The personal reflections seems prompted, a bit after the fact and rather convenient in retrospect. There is not much aspect of the personal life, which could be fine if those proffessional experiences left their marks even more.
Liley mentionned how, likely in response to his brother, he ended adopted a detached and pragmatic view of life, weary of passion. Maybe sadly this also reflect on this book. His values and emotions sometimes are highlighted, but mostly lightly and briefly. Some of his positions are also a bit unexplained. It is unclear for me, how he came to suddenly understand the importance of Taiwan to China so strongly during his first stint at the National Security Council. Many of his position he said he advocated, are not really explained by his experience, with a few exceptions.
This leaves the reader feeling a bit more disconnected from the tale of his professional experiences, and the global context in which they took shape.
However, his tale of his brother and also as a main thread through out his story was a good idea. All about his brother, his internal debate with his principle and beliefs, told in the context of the war and post-war context, gave me a lot of food for thought. The experience of the foreign settlement in Tsingtao in the 1920s are also rivetting, including how strange the mixing of americans, Japanese, Russian and other nationalities behave before the war and how this change. The retelling of Tiananmen events are interesting too, but I feel there are others maybe that are better told, in a more gripping manner, and closer to the complex emotions it entailed.
The book also reveal few informative hindsight, or foresight even. Written in 2004, its impression of US-China relation is limited to exactly what it was at the time : good trade that should not get spoiled, Taiwan-China relationship going always in the same direction anyhow. Nothing on the rest of Asia either. This in the current context, despite the wide experience of Liley, let the reader down when read today.
Overall, still good book, but as it comes closer to the end, less and less interesting.
Although the writing was light and pleasant, and I really loved the first chapters related to his childhood and teenage years in Tsingtao and else where in China, I do not think I would have a lot of take aways from this book.
Most of it follow indeed key events in Asia which were was happening around Liley during his different positions. But a lot of the description stipulate overall what those events were, and the first hand experiences of those events didn't come trough in any particuliar manner. They were also competing with second-hand experience of some others around him, but still kept rather short. The personal reflections seems prompted, a bit after the fact and rather convenient in retrospect. There is not much aspect of the personal life, which could be fine if those proffessional experiences left their marks even more.
Liley mentionned how, likely in response to his brother, he ended adopted a detached and pragmatic view of life, weary of passion. Maybe sadly this also reflect on this book. His values and emotions sometimes are highlighted, but mostly lightly and briefly. Some of his positions are also a bit unexplained. It is unclear for me, how he came to suddenly understand the importance of Taiwan to China so strongly during his first stint at the National Security Council. Many of his position he said he advocated, are not really explained by his experience, with a few exceptions.
This leaves the reader feeling a bit more disconnected from the tale of his professional experiences, and the global context in which they took shape.
However, his tale of his brother and also as a main thread through out his story was a good idea. All about his brother, his internal debate with his principle and beliefs, told in the context of the war and post-war context, gave me a lot of food for thought. The experience of the foreign settlement in Tsingtao in the 1920s are also rivetting, including how strange the mixing of americans, Japanese, Russian and other nationalities behave before the war and how this change. The retelling of Tiananmen events are interesting too, but I feel there are others maybe that are better told, in a more gripping manner, and closer to the complex emotions it entailed.
The book also reveal few informative hindsight, or foresight even. Written in 2004, its impression of US-China relation is limited to exactly what it was at the time : good trade that should not get spoiled, Taiwan-China relationship going always in the same direction anyhow. Nothing on the rest of Asia either. This in the current context, despite the wide experience of Liley, let the reader down when read today.
Overall, still good book, but as it comes closer to the end, less and less interesting.
July 12, 2025
Career CIA officer James Lilley’s autobiography is a fascinating retelling of a life in a different time. Part One of the book has a necessary slowness to it as the author offers a brief family history including his childhood spent in China during World War II. This background set the stage for how Lilley was drawn back to the country later in his career as the first CIA officer to enter China in nearly 50 years. It is most interesting to read about the U.S.-China relationship in the 70s and 80s from the perspective of the friction between the two countries in more modern decades.
Around the halfway point of the book, the author retires from the CIA and becomes a close advisor to George H.W. Bush in what would become the Reagan-Bush Administration. He started off as the East Asian expert for the National Security Council, offering readers a glimpse into the political rifts within the presidential cabinet regarding the China policy. The president, vice president, and secretary of state all had differing opinions on the matter. It’s a wonder anything ever gets completed at the federal level.
The latter portion of the book concludes with Lilley’s time as the U.S. Ambassador to China during the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 and the subsequent emergency evacuation of American citizens from Peking. He also played a part in harboring a Chinese dissident who was hidden inside the American Embassy.
Needless to say, the author’s adventures during his time as a spy and diplomat are both entertaining and alluring. Some of the subject matter covered continues to be contentious to this day, as is the case with any political undertaking. The author humbly didn’t write from a pulpit of purity of superiority, nor did he seem to regret any moment of the years of loyal service he gave to the United States. Admittedly, the book is extremely long and devoid of any edge-of-your-seat stories. Lilley spares the reader of thrilling accounts of espionage abroad, instead focusing on his overt roles representing the United States in China. Think of it as political history with an intriguing twist, as opposed to an action-adventure novel.
Around the halfway point of the book, the author retires from the CIA and becomes a close advisor to George H.W. Bush in what would become the Reagan-Bush Administration. He started off as the East Asian expert for the National Security Council, offering readers a glimpse into the political rifts within the presidential cabinet regarding the China policy. The president, vice president, and secretary of state all had differing opinions on the matter. It’s a wonder anything ever gets completed at the federal level.
The latter portion of the book concludes with Lilley’s time as the U.S. Ambassador to China during the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 and the subsequent emergency evacuation of American citizens from Peking. He also played a part in harboring a Chinese dissident who was hidden inside the American Embassy.
Needless to say, the author’s adventures during his time as a spy and diplomat are both entertaining and alluring. Some of the subject matter covered continues to be contentious to this day, as is the case with any political undertaking. The author humbly didn’t write from a pulpit of purity of superiority, nor did he seem to regret any moment of the years of loyal service he gave to the United States. Admittedly, the book is extremely long and devoid of any edge-of-your-seat stories. Lilley spares the reader of thrilling accounts of espionage abroad, instead focusing on his overt roles representing the United States in China. Think of it as political history with an intriguing twist, as opposed to an action-adventure novel.
February 4, 2023
While the book's subtitle is Nine Decades of Adventure, Espionage, and Diplomacy in Asia, the heart of the book is the author's search for an answer to why his older brother committed suicide in the 1940s. It's a reminder that even those among us who reach the highest levels of power and prestige carry private sorrows.
On the topic of espionage and diplomacy, there is some great content in this book, and I'm tempted to go back and reread it so that I fully understand it. From the accounts in the book, espionage is mostly just information gathering through non-diplomatic sources, which makes it sound much less exotic, but certainly not a shady or immoral activity.
Another strength of the book was the discussion of the events leading up to and following the Tiananmen Massacre. This is also worth a reread, as a reminder to what happened in 1989.
On the topic of espionage and diplomacy, there is some great content in this book, and I'm tempted to go back and reread it so that I fully understand it. From the accounts in the book, espionage is mostly just information gathering through non-diplomatic sources, which makes it sound much less exotic, but certainly not a shady or immoral activity.
Another strength of the book was the discussion of the events leading up to and following the Tiananmen Massacre. This is also worth a reread, as a reminder to what happened in 1989.
September 22, 2025
Favorite book out of my CIA series, ambassador James Liley had an impressive career in CIA, Taiwan institute, and ambassador to China. Served during Clinton Reagan Bush times and had more of a diplomatic career than operational espionage.
February 17, 2023
I am simple-minded enough to enjoy any book about post-1911 China.
August 26, 2011
A personal history of Lilley's relationship with China during his childhood, and his decades of service as a CIA agent and an American diplomat. James and his siblings were raised in China where their father worked for Standard Oil before World War II. His older brother trained Chinese forces to fight the Japanese during World War II. James himself worked as an intelligence officer for the CIA in South Korea, Laos, Taiwan, and the People's Republic of China before being "outed". He served as the American ambassador to China during George W. Bush's administration. The book is full of interesting inside information regarding Sino-American espionage and diplomatic activities since the Chinese revolution. I learned of this one from an interview with the author on KUOW's Weekday on 13 May 2004.
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February 24, 2011Read this for one of my colleges while I studied abroad. It's very long, so I never got to finish. I wish I did, and I think when I have time I will go back to finishing it. The book is great, it really pulls you in like you are there, once you start reading you will very much enjoy it. I just wish I had more time.
February 1, 2009
interesting. i wouldn't say fabulous. but an interesting perspective on history. i thought he was myopic in his view/understanding of events in the region, there was surprisingly little understanding of how events played out from other perspectives.
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December 14, 2009This is the first book "on China" that I read. It pretty good. More about US-SINO relation during 1930 to 2000 and US invovlement in Asia Pacific. It made me understand more about the power of politics and the ways it has helped to define history good or bad.
April 12, 2008
Interesting to me, as he was Abassador to Beijing during Tianamen Sqaure Revolt, and traveled extensively through Asia. Well written and timely with the Olypmics on their way.
June 2, 2011
Great Book about an American born in China Man's life and how it developed into serving the USA in ways ranging from the Active Duty Military to the CIA to Ambassador to various Countries.
May 5, 2014
This was the story of my great uncle and his travels. It made me feel closer to him and reminded me of the stories he would tell me when I was younger. Thanks uncle Jim
December 27, 2007
Ambassador Lilley is a Great American and true patriot. What an amazing life story.
June 11, 2012
liked the bit about growing up in 1930's coastal qingdao
February 22, 2019
Great Book and Insider Look on the Events that Shape our Foreign Relations
Mr Lilley gives a great account of his experiences in China and gives us reader the insider looks of US-China Relations during the Reagan and Bush administration. His epilogue even though written a decade ago still holds true today. Very great read, even though he sometimes skips around chronological.
Mr Lilley gives a great account of his experiences in China and gives us reader the insider looks of US-China Relations during the Reagan and Bush administration. His epilogue even though written a decade ago still holds true today. Very great read, even though he sometimes skips around chronological.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews