China's Leaders: From Mao to Now

by David Shambaugh

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China over seventy years ago, five paramount leaders have shaped the fates and fortunes of the nation and the ruling Chinese Communist Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao, and Xi Jinping. Under their leaderships, China has undergone an extraordinary transformation from an undeveloped and insular country to a comprehensive world power.

In this definitive study, renowned Sinologist David Shambaugh offers a refreshing account of China's dramatic post-revolutionary history through the prism of those who ruled it. Exploring the persona, formative socialization, psychology, and professional experiences of each leader, Shambaugh shows how their differing leadership styles and tactics of rule shaped China domestically and Mao was a populist tyrant, Deng a pragmatic Leninist, Jiang a bureaucratic politician, Hu a technocratic apparatchik, and Xi a modern emperor. Covering the full scope of these leaders' personalities and power, this is an illuminating guide to China's modern history and understanding how China has become the superpower of today.

Genres: China, History, Nonfiction, Politics, Biography, Political Science, Asia

448 pages, Audible Audio

First published June 25, 2021

About the author

David Leigh Shambaugh is an American political scientist, Sinologist and policy advisor. He currently serves as the Gaston Sigur Professor of Asian Studies, Political Science, and International Affairs at George Washington University, where he is also the director of the China Policy Program at GW’s Elliott School of International Affairs. He is also a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution (2024—). He was previously a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. Shambaugh served in the Department of State, and on the White House National Security Council staff during the presidency of Jimmy Carter. As an author, Shambaugh has authored 12 and edited 21 books, and over 200 scholarly articles and newspaper op-eds. (Source: Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

China's Leaders: From Mao to Now is an analysis of the five most significant paramount leaders of the People’s Republic of China, written by renowned sinologist David Shambaugh. The book is divided into seven chapters: one chapter for each leader, bookended by introductory and final chapters. The introduction surveys and haphazardly applies several methodologies to study these five rulers, without elaborating on any one method. The analysis is too cursory to offer any real insight on the topic to the reader and can easily be skipped. The chapter on Mao focuses more on the life and personality of the man rather than on his policies or the historical context of his reign (this also applies to all the other leaders covered in this work). His analysis of Mao is certainly informative but it is not well balanced, quoting controversial sources such as The Private Life of Chairman Mao and including unnecessary snide remarks about the Chairman. While Mao was certainly a horrible despot, Shambaugh’s criticisms seem at times to be a bit childish or at best lacking credibility. The next three chapters, on Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, and Hu Jintao, are all well-researched and give a more balanced analysis of these leaders. Throughout these chapters, Shambaugh mentions his experiences living in China during this time period and gives personal anecdotes of having lived through momentous events in Chinese history or having met or discussed with prominent CCP cadres. This era of Chinese history is clearly Shambaugh’s area of expertise and thus these chapters are the most enjoyable and informative of the entire work. Following this is a chapter on Xi Jinping. This chapter marks a dramatic shift in tone from being impartial, perhaps even favorable, towards China’s leaders to being harshly critical. To be certain, it is well known that Xi has broken away from decades of liberalization and openness and is far more authoritarian than his predecessors. He has overseen such horrible acts as the Uighur genocide in Xinjiang and widespread crackdowns on freedom of speech. That being said, to what extent Shambaugh’s critiques are justified is not clear to me and is an area requiring more personal research. Finally, the work concludes with a chapter comparing and contrasting the five leaders in which Shambaugh offers the most novel analysis in the text. While the analysis in this chapter is great, the book would be better served if this analysis was instead spread throughout the preceding five chapters because as is, the book almost feels like a several-hundred page long introduction to an essay on Chinese leadership styles. Shambaugh’s work is likely the best introduction on the lives of the rulers of the People’s Republic of China. I would recommend this book to anyone seeking an introduction on PRC leadership.

[Zulu Fox · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. In the preface of this book, Shambaugh writes: "I have intended this book to be more for the general public and students than for my scholarly colleagues, so I hope they will remember this when they read it." Fair enough. He goes on to mention cranking this thing out over 9 months in his summer home in Michigan. So, in a nutshell, we can take this to mean there are no new sources (or original scholarship?) here and he made an effort to whip this thing off in time to make the 2021 deadline for cashing in on the centenary of the founding of the CCP. I don't mean to come off as overly cynical, but it's clear that many of the big names in the field have been rushing to cash in this year by putting out books for the general public.

First, I'll say something positive: I think David Shambaugh is a really knowledgeable Sinologist who's done some great work, so don't let my perhaps-overly-cynical review jaundice you on him or put you off reading his other work, which I think is totally worth reading. I really appreciate his willingness to take clear-cut positions on various issues, and he really is an excellent guide to certain topics. And to keep being fair: I did learn some stuff here, especially from the chapters on Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao (which is clearly Shambaugh's wheelhouse and probably where he should have focused). So, for a reader with minimal prior background who wants a very short, high-level general history of the PRC which focuses on the biographies and main policies of its leaders, maybe this could serve as a handy reference.

Now I'll share some more more critical points:

1. In a sense, what this book really is is Shambaugh sharing his general intuitions and impressions, alongside some suggestions for further reading. He comes off like a senior prof at a bar regaling his grad students with anecdotes and hot takes. For instance, at numerous (numerous!) points in the book Shambaugh conspicuously inserts himself into the narrative, mentioning that he was in a given city in China at the time, or that he personally attended the Olympics in Beijing, or that he personally met so-and-so, and at one point he even treats us to a half-page photo of him shaking hands with Hu Jintao. Cool. Honestly, this probably could have worked quite well in a slightly different context. Shambaugh undoubtedly has met and spoken with a lot of CCP insiders, and I would highly value his intuitions on the CCP and love for him to lean into that aspect of things. But I guess that would ultimately be more of a podcast or an article (or his previous book) than a book meant for a general readership.

2. Focus. This book is in large part just a high-level recap of the history of the PRC, focusing on its leaders. I suppose I had hoped to either learn something more about some of these leaders or to hear some arm-chair-psychologizing-from-a-distance about how their upbringing affected their personalities and how their personalities impacted their tenures. Better yet, what are all these insiders Shambaugh seems to have access to saying on the subjects? To be fair, there is a little of this, in the first chapter things start promisingly and Shambaugh attempts to answer those questions, but then things basically just turn into a boilerplate high-level recounting of the main events in PRC history (with the possible exception of the Jiang and Hu chapters).

3. The chapter on Mao is a write-off and can be skipped completely, in my opinion. Clearly Shambaugh has his mind made up on Mao and isn't in the market to offer any new analysis or go beyond the standard tropes. This is a shame as despite the (large) handful of biographies that exist on Mao, I would argue the definitive one has yet to be written. Moreover, there would seem to be a lot of fertile ground for someone interested in pchy0-analyzing how Mao's life experiences shaped his personality and how these shaped his time in power. Oh well.

4. The chapter on Deng is a little better, but still pretty unnecessary. Clearly, Shambaugh is much more sympathetic to Deng and so the narrative reflects this. The hyper-critical lens used to view the Mao era gives way to one sympathetic to all the challenges the "pragmatic Leninist" had to face. Anyways, if you were interested in learning about Deng and this period of PRC history, you could just read Ezra Vogel's biography, which Shambaugh draws from.

5. The Jiang and Hu chapters were actually pretty good. All of the value I got from the book I would say I got from these two chapters.

6. The Xi chapter had a few interesting points, but it was largely more boiler-plate, high-level stuff. Also, I'm not totally sure Shambaugh is getting everything right here. For example, he writes that under Xi "There has been a significant tightening of foreign investment and corporate operating environment..." Maybe. But then again it seems like, for example, the new PRC Foreign Investment Law that came into affect in 2020 would suggest that Xi still sees value in liberalizing some areas of the economy. A more thoughtful analyses might also have considered how sanctions might impact innovation in the PRC, but I digress.

7. Finally, it occurs to me that maybe this whole project was ill-conceived. Maybe there just isn't as much value in this kind of high-level, made-for-a-general-readership comparative "study" of the 5 CCP paramount leaders as I thought there might be. Since what we actually get here is a quick rundown of the main events of PRC history, I feel like the reader would be better served by just buying a general history of the PRC. Conversely, if you're interested in a particular leader, maybe just buy a biography on that leader. I really do think Shambaugh has a lot of interesting thoughts and intuitions that I'd like to hear, but in the final analyses, the book is a bit of a misfire.

[Benjamin Stahl · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quite intriguing and highly readable portrait of China’s most influential communist leaders, as well as an informative comparative analysis on their different types of leadership, policies and personalities.

[Swapnil Bawkar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worthy reading

Absolutely gripping and interesting tales. Prof Shambuag had it. What he intended. The comparitive analysis of major Chinese leaders brought forward the certain aspects/ trends in the Chinese society that needs to be observed and looked at by the opinion makers in the world.

[Gabriel Stein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting and lucid

A very interesting and lucid overview over China’s leaders from Mao Zedong to Xi Jinping. Shambaugh does not hesitate to present his own views, but this adds to the perspective and his description is usually both fair and balanced. Recommended reading for anyone who wants to understand what is going on in China.

[Dallin Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish it had delved more in Xi Jin Ping, but this book is extremely valuable as a primer into the 5 presidents of the People's Republic of China. Will need to read other books to get a good knowledge from the last 15 years.

[Chris Ashby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pool book, definitely worth a read.

[Thomas H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

David Shambaugh knows a lot about the rulers of the PRC, and he wants you to know that he knows a lot about them too. His writing style, while sometimes meandering, is nevertheless fluent. His occasional sociological and psychoanalytical approach to the leaders passed over my head a little as I'm most interested in the core historical facts, but in general it's a fascinating read. I also appreciated his use of Chinese terms and the audiobook's competent reading of them. I certainly learnt a lot about PRC terminology.

While some will be more critical of Shambaugh's rambling and occasional repeating of information (which I personally don't mind), the only thing that grated on me was that at times Shambaugh writes of other revolutions of which he has less knowledge and makes some unnecessary mistakes - for example, on the first page of the Mao Zedong chapter, he confuses his description of the Thermidorian reaction as "Robespierre's usurpation" (when its actually the reaction that takes place when Robespierre is ousted!), while what I think he's referring to what the fear of the Russian revolutionaries of a new 'Napoleon' arising. He references this again on page 74. He also oversimplifies Mao's trip to the Soviet Union and the background of the split with Stalin on page 37.

But these are small issues with details that are not the main focus. When it comes to CPC leaders, Shambaugh is master. His book is comprehensive and I learnt so much, especially about Jiang Zemin, who Shambaugh somewhat admires. For a book about the Chinese Communist Party, Shambaugh is not overly vitriolic to the detriment of his scholarship. Many other writers on China could learn from him. I am looking forward to reading more of Shambaugh's work in the future.

[Zheng Yuchen · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a Chinese, I learned quite some new stuff and interesting perspectives about my own leaders from this book. However, the Chinese translations he gives for many technical terms are a total catastrophe (about 30% are wrong in some ways, I wonder why he wouldn't find an editor who knows Chinese to double-check for him). Also, too many personal anecdotes were used that are not exactly strong evidence for his points.

[Jurriaan · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a general refresher of modern Chinese political history, I think this book is very useful. I think it is especially useful that Shambaugh pays additional attention to the interregnums (Hua Guofeng, Hu Yaobang). The theoretical framework of leadership in the introduction to the biographies and the (albeit subtle) reference to this framework in the concluding summary was also well done. Overall, the biographies are well-written and paint a good picture of each leader, their style, accomplishments and challenges. This especially goes for the chapters on Jiang and Hu, I think.

The Xi Jinping chapter I found a bit disappointing, though. There seemed to be missing quite a few important aspects of his leadership (also in comparison with the other leaders), on ideology (e.g., the China Dream) and choices he has made as a leader (e.g., 20th Party Congress, social credit system, relationships with Putin and Trump) and how these relate to the choices and actions of previous leaders. Some aspects of the Xi era are barely mentioned at all, while still quite foundational, including of his own initiative (Belt and Road Initiative) and challenges he is facing (aging population, economic stagnation).

In addition, whereas Shambaugh examines this quite closely in the chapters on Mao and Deng, the intricacies and intra-Party politics of the Jiang/Hu/Xi eras are not discussed as much. For example, the Shanghai Gang and Communist Youth League, two very important CCP factions, are barely discussed. The disappearance of Bo Xilai as competitor to Xi was relegated by Shambaugh to a text box. The politics behind the curtains of the 20th Party Congress are missing, just like the (gradual) sidelining of Li Keqiang in the Xi era. Before reading this book, these were topics I was especially interested in, but the book did not really give any answers or even speculations.

Still, 3.5 stars for me, as Shambaugh has done a good job telling the story of modern Chinese political history by focusing on CCP leadership.

[Joao Lorenzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

MUCH MORE INFO THAN YOUR AVG. BOOK ON CHINA

The book is a must read if you follow China closely for two reasons:
1) it provides a lot of information that other books do not cover. Personal aspects of the leaders and the environment surrounding them that help to explain why and how China and the Chinese State evolved throughout time. It also exposed a wide and complex connection among political figures that makes a lot of sense to why oneself is the leader of China today, why other self was the leader before etc;

2) Narration is good and the way the author connects facts is very elightning. By the end of the book, one can easily understand why China is as it is today.

On the negative side, the book is filled with Western bias, but not discrediting. The bias towards a Western system is clear.

[Javier · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not so much boring as just simple. Almost childish in parts. Shambaugh needs to fire his editors because I found so many grammar, spelling typing, etc... errors that were very easy to fix. I'm not saying that mine is perfect, but I'm also not an author. I also think he should maybe invest in a good thesaurus cause the diction in this book, was not it. Lastly, in other books I've read by American authors they're all biased against China obviously but they at least attempt to hide it; Shambaugh did not attempt to hide it. There were so many points in this book also that made me dislike Shambaugh as a person so much because of how he bragged about himself. I know that that's just how a lot of academics are but Jesus it was very very evident in this book.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars from me. I really enjoyed this survey of the primary leaders of China from Mao to Xi. I gave up on highlighting books to read, because there were too many. If I want a comprehensive list of books to read on China, the Notes from this book would be a good place to start. Things just go out of date so fast. I liked the different ways the author looked at the leaders, from childhood relationships to leadership style. I appreciated the bullet points! Much easier for me to process than endless sentences. Each book I read on China gives me more perspective for the next I read. I am looking forward to the author's memoirs! I will consider other books by this author, so long as they don't seem too academic and detailed in the wrong ways for me.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shambaugh provides a well-balanced biographical account of the upbringing and rule of Mao, Deng, Jiang, Hu, and Xi. He condenses the high points of the longer and more detailed books of the individual rulers to highlight high and lows, and strengths and weaknesses of each ruler. Shambaugh also highlights the human characteristics of each leader, showing how their individual backgrounds, including great hardships and challenges, set them up to rule in certain ways. This book is an excellent introduction or refresher for people interested in China.

[ash estep · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book did what it wanted to do. It gave me an overview of the 5 paramount Chinese leaders and even a little bit of hua guofeng. But it dragged at points and spent a little to much on Mao, which for the record all the stuff on Mao was fantastic and well written it’s just that he was given so much more detail than any other leader which in some part was deserved but Xi Jinpings part was so minor it annoyed me. This book is good though and is a good introductory reading and served as a good stepping stone.

[Warren Tutwiler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good overview of China's modern leadership, despite the obvious assumption made by the author that Western/American politics/society/economics is superior and to be preferred over any others; the chapter on Xi Jinping, while informative, seemed to suffer the most from this negative bias, even though the author couldn't help but acknowledge Xi's accomplishments at the same time. Overall, worth reading if you are looking for a concise summary of CCP politics.

[CP · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and nice introduction to the “paramount leaders” of PRC. Many new perspectives and new details about these important individuals were unknown to me.
Would say this is still a very Western liberal minded book. I personally resonate with it, but not too sure whether these would be all sides of the story.

[Mike Hill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good and rather unbiased and rational look at modern China. Bias comes out in full force when Xi Jinping is covered. Per usual the predictions made at or hinted at in the boo haven't come true. It is still a good book for understanding particularly the post-Mao era with the information available and the author gives space to many theories and views.

[Susanna Stenfors · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book provided a very coherent and thorough summary of the five primary leaders of the PCR. The author added his own personal experiences that gave the book an interesting extra layer of intrigue. The only downside is that the language and topics are hefty and complex, requiring the reader to be focused and motivated to finish it.

[Al · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent primer by David Shambaugh!

He masterfully simplifies the totality of PRC leadership without missing the important parts.

I will likely gift this book to those needing a quick understanding of Chinese leadership history and almost certainly reference it again going forward.

[Richard A · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good summary description of the five major Chinese leaders from Mao through to Xi. The focus is clearly on the leaders (as the title indicates). I would have liked to learn more about the developments in the nation, but that was not the point of this book.

[Swati · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is quite an excellent summary of the five previous leaders of China, I would recommend it. My rating is really closer to 4.5, made me want to know a lot more about some of the individuals who were so influential in shaping one of the biggest countries today.

[anushree · Rating 3 out of 5]

informative and eye-opening to the personal backgrounds of each of these leaders. felt a bit too much like an essay/research paper at times.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

概览，不深入，一般普通

[Paul · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too harsh on China. Okay, it's not America but perhaps it's not all bad.

[Auran · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent book, though rather one-sided and clearly from the American perspective, though not as bad as others in this respect.

[Spencer · Rating 5 out of 5]

China has interesting history! Not sure how up to date it is like with current stuff.

[Lucaaa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very general, yet basically everything I seek in an introduction to Chinese leaders. Maybe the actual political process and political strategies, in a more in-depth sense, is something I missed.

[PEDRO · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed the book. It gave a good picture of these five Chinese leaders in an entertaining way.

[Echo XIE · Rating 4 out of 5]

解决一些断头书