Bad Elements: Chinese Rebels from Los Angeles to Beijing

by Ian Buruma

Who speaks for China? Is it the old men of the politbureau or an activist like Wei Jingshsheng, who spent eighteen years in prison for writing a democratic manifesto? Is China’s future to be found amid the boisterous sleaze of an electoral campaign in Taiwan or in the maneuvers by which ordinary residents of Beijing quietly resist the authority of the state?

These are among the questions that Ian Buruma poses in this enlightening and often moving tour of Chinese dissidence. Moving from the quarrelsome exile communities of the U. S. to Singapore and Hong Kong and from persecuted Christians to Internet “hacktivists,” Buruma captures an entire spectrum of opposition to the orthodoxies of the Communist Party. He explores its historical antecedents its conflicting notions of freedom and the paradoxical mix of courage and cussedness that inspires its members. Panoramic and intimate, disturbing and inspiring, Bad Elements is a profound meditation on the themes of national identity and political struggle.

Genres: China, Nonfiction, History, Politics, Asia

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Ian Buruma is a British-Dutch writer and academic, much of whose work focuses on the culture of Asia, particularly that of 20th-century Japan, where he lived and worked for many years.

Reviews

[Dmitri · Rating 4 out of 5]

"A street entertainer earned a lot of money with his dancing monkey. One day when the monkey refused to dance the entertainer killed a live chicken in front of the monkey. And then the monkey resumed dancing." - An Old Chinese Fable

"Zhao Gao was contemplating treason but was afraid other officials would not heed his commands. He brought a deer and presented it to them, but called it a horse. Some were silent while some, hoping to ingratiate themselves, said it was a horse, and others said it was a deer. Zhao Gao had all those who said it was a deer executed. The officials were terrified and Zhao Gao gained power." - Sima Qian 'The Records of the Grand Historian', Han Dynasty 100 BC

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Before becoming a NYRB editor and professor at Bard, Ian Buruma was a writer and critic in Tokyo, Hong Kong and greater east Asia. In this 2001 book he visits Chinese exiles and expatriates who left the People's Republic at various times from it's founding in 1949 to the Tiananmen protests of 1989. He traveled the foreign diaspora and inside China for five years to try to understand. Would China continue under authoritarian rule or someday be governed as a free society? Buruma has a degree in Chinese literature from Leiden and is well versed in China's history and culture.

After the June 4 massacre in Beijing, student leaders were jailed or escaped, many now living in the US or EU. Chai Ling, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, studied at Princeton and Harvard and is a CEO of a software company. Her deputy leader Li Lu earned triple economics, MBA and law degrees simultaneously in 1996, a first in Columbia's history. He has managed a hedge fund and may lead Berkshire Hathaway. Some like Wu'er Kaixi became media figures and politicians in Taiwan and Hong Kong, others studied religion in the US and France. Those who succeeded are denounced by peers.

Liu Binyan, an influential writer and loyal communist, was arrested in 1957 in the 100 Flowers Campaign, where Mao urged criticism of the Party. He was persecuted in 1967 in the Cultural Revolution and purged in 1987 for revealing Party corruption. In the US, after expulsion from China, he faults the 1989 leaders for selfishness and materialism. A theme from some emigres is China's 'spiritual vacuum' that needs a religion to teach love. Yuan Zhiming, a refugee who wrote the film 'River Elegy' comparing the Party to previous dynasties, travels inside of America preaching the gospel.

Fang Lizhi was a physicist and professor who, among other things, developed China's atomic bomb. He was victimized in the 1956 and 1966 purges. Allowed to visit Europe in 1979 he reflected on Galileo's censure by the Church. Heaven was the purview of religion, not of science. He inspired students to rebel in 1989 and was given asylum at the US embassy in Beijing. Xiao Qiang, an ex-student of Fang and a democracy advocate in New York meets Buruma. He teaches in Berkeley now and researches AI-powered state surveillance in China. For many Beijing science students Einstein was a hero.

Wei Jingshen, a former Red Guard who posted a manifesto on the 1978 Democracy Wall in Beijing, spent 18 years in jail before being deported to the US. Fang sent an open letter to Deng Xiaoping in 1989 asking for Wei's release which helped spark the protests. After his exile Fang taught astrophysics in Cambridge, Princeton and Tucson. Wei was spared from execution when leaked tapes of his trial caused international outrage. He went on to become a leader for human rights in Washington D.C. Buruma discusses rivalry for recognition and funding among activist groups in the United States.

Chia Thye Poh, a former political prisoner in Singapore meets with Buruma. Leader Lee Kuan Yew envisioned a civilization surrounded by barbarians, a Chinese enclave transplanted to the jungles of SE Asia, where communists instead of counter-revolutionaries were repressed. Chia, a parliament member, was jailed in 1963 for 23 years. Running against the ruling party a lawyer loses his license, a scientist his savings. Church officials accused of Marxism are tortured and coerced to confess. Lee once said without 80% Chinese Singapore's political conformism would not have worked.

Many who had fled Taiwan and worked overseas to advance rights returned in 1996. After the Japanese retreat in 1945 Chiang Kai-shek's nationalists invaded from the mainland ruling with an iron fist. Imaginary communists disappeared in the night, arrests and killings leading to 30,000 deaths over 40 years. Chiang's son Ching-kuo lifted martial law in 1987 under US pressure. Buruma traces a turn to democracy in 1996 to the 1979 protests challenging Kuomintang power monopoly. Elections were held as Beijing fired missiles into the straight and candidates returned from prison or exile.

Buruma visits Hong Kong during the 1997 hand over and reports on the pageantry and propaganda of power transfer. Protests were reserved, unlike mass demonstrations twenty years later when central party control was exerted. As the island retained its capitalist role the right leaning business owners became pro-Beijing and the left wing pro-British in a reversal of political stance. Along with economic reforms Deng had decided to crush movements for democracy in the 80's. Hong Kongers who went to the mainland to support protests spent the prior decade in prisons and labor camps.

The Special Economic Zone of Shenzhen lies directly across a canal bordering Hong Kong. An indigent lawyer takes in maimed factory workers dismissed without compensation for injuries. He and an economist reflect without democratic rule law has no legitimacy. In Guangzhou Buruma meets a co-author of the 1974 Li Yi Zhe manifesto that launched the democracy movement in the wake of the Cultural Revolution. He believes Christianity laid the foundation for science by raising questions about the nature of the universe. Buruma argues Greek logic was the root and the Church a roadblock.

A 1999 protest for religious freedom by Falun Gong revealed they were 100 million strong, with more members than the communist party, so they were immediately banned as an evil cult. Within three days 25,000 were arrested and 10,000 jailed. Buruma compares them to apocalyptic movements like the Yellow Turbans, Taiping and Boxers who challenged earlier despotic rule. They were styled as proto-socialist by Mao in an ironic twist of history. Falun Gong itself preaches withdrawal from worldly affairs. Sent down to the country a follower finds villagers still kept traditional spiritual beliefs.

Traveling with a friend to a village in Sichuan Baruma meets a rural Christian mother who is hassled by local authorities and harangued by her family. Corrupt officials squeeze the peasants for money, directed by a remote unelected central government. In Lhasa Tibet modernization, the mantra of all colonial powers, replaced class struggle as the main goal of Beijing. Two Tibetans argue if science replaced religion, one saying that without Buddhism there is no Tibet. Language is fading as schools and jobs speak Mandarin. Buruma ends in Beijing on the 10th anniversary of Tiananmen protests.

I first visited China in the 90's and have been back every two years. I found a warm and welcoming country, a diverse and interesting people and culture. In tensions over Taiwan and trade, covid and climate, Trump and Xi are all disturbing. Traveling Tibet and Xinjiang I saw surveillance and security. Buruma looks at the decade during Deng and repression of dissent. In many of the interviews a religious renaissance or westernization is thought to be needed. I'm not convinced it would resolve the issue of authoritarian control. As seen in the west a slide backward in civil rights is a possibility too.

[Daniel Warriner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bad Elements by Ian Buruma was published in 2001 so, considering how dramatically China has grown over the past couple decades, I almost gave the book a pass. I'm glad I didn't. While China has grown, and many changes have come with this growth, it has yet to undergo the transformation expected or hoped for by countless many, especially in the areas of human rights, freedom of speech, and transition to some form of workable democracy. Bad Elements is therefore relevant to the present but obviously without reference to very recent events. Another reason to read it is for Buruma's remarkable clarity of thought and smooth writing, and so whatever in it might be less relevant is still a brilliant read. It also brought me back to a late 90s feel, when the whole world knew China was on the cusp of monumental change but unsure as to what exactly that change would mean.

For Bad Elements Buruma sat down (often with food, and reminiscent of Anthony Bourdain's interview style) with Chinese dissidents to hear their stories (some quite violent and harrowing, and heroic) and views on the past, present and future of China as well as Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Tibet. Throughout the book he revisits the Tiananmen Square demonstration in 1989 as a sort of modern-day focal point for activism and opposition. He starts off his interviews in the U.S. (farthest from Beijing) and then makes his way towards the political center or core of control over the "Chinese people" with stops to chat with others of Chinese birth or descent living in regions or countries outside of greater China. Parts are frustrating, for us and Buruma too, as he tries to track down answers in a miasma of lies and delusion and indoctrination and the systemic belief that China is way too old and too big and too complicated for any outsider to ever properly understand. He also takes a look at the interesting link between Christianity and Chinese dissidents as well as parallels between religion and democracy. Overall a really interesting, still relevant book by an author I've for too long read only his books on Japan.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book covers the intellectual world of Chinese dissidents, ranging from exile in the West to the heart of China itself. One the way, it looks at dissent in repressively paternal Singapore and in the schizophrenic environment that is Hong Kong.

On reflection, I raised my rating of this book. When I first read it, parts of it put me off, but I realize that I was not so much upset with the book, as such, but frustrated and maddened by the some of the dissidents it covers.

One of the themes that examined in this book is that of collective Chinese identity, what is considered properly Chinese. This has traditionally been the obsession of Chinese rulers, from the philosopher Confucius to the People’s Republic, and might be seen as a source of repressive conformity. Buruma shows how this is also an obsession for dissidents and used as an ideological weapon.
Buruma takes odds with the idea, held by Chinese authorities, many Westerners, and not a few dissidents, that the Chinese are culturally incapable of democracy. In China, this line of thought goes, democracy will lead to unrest and chaos. To refute this, Buruma points to Taiwan as an example of a Chinese democracy.

I found this book was much more interesting the closer it got to China. Buruma own analysis indicates why this might have been. Exiles are removed from the ongoing ideological discourse of Chinese society. They are seen by dissidents in China as having little to say that applies to the situation on the ground. As such, the exiles become more and more abstract in their thinking, and often more shrill in their pronouncements. They obsess over squabbles with other exiles and seem slightly sad, dissipated figures.

The places the book really hooked me were the sections on Taiwan, Hong Kong, and mainland China. Buruma is one of the better commentators on East Asian affairs, and it shows here. He gives the reader a detailed view of the ideological cracks and inconsistencies in a China that is pursuing the status of great power and, at the same time, suffers from a deep-seated over-sensitivity to perceived insult or implied weakness.

[Kes · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book that definitely shows its age (first published in 2001). The author set out to explore who the Chinese are - whether the Chinese (as a race) are able to be democratic.

There is also a introduction to the 2003 edition that starts with "Strange things happen when Chinese dynasties near their end." and goes on to say that:

I believe that Communist Party rule will end in China; sooner or later all dynasties do. But when or how, I cannot say. Will one authoritarian dynasty be replaced, once again, by another, in the name of national unity and superior virtue? Or will the Chinese finally be able to govern themselves in a freer and more open society? The example of Taiwan, whose citizens can now speak freely and elect their own government, shows that it is possible. The example of Singapore, which combines relative economic liberalism with political authoritarianism, points in another, equally plausible, direction.

That introduction has aged well. /sarcasm

The book is divided into three sections: first, Chinese dissidents in exile (we're talking about China Chinese, largely involved in the cultural revolutions from 1960s - 1989); second, Greater China (Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong); and third, Chinese dissidents in China (including Tibet).

Naturally, I'm interested in the Singapore chapter and it felt a little too glib? For example, the author would relate Singapore history, but because of the way the chapter is written), I'm unsure if his explanation is the author's perspective or the perspective of the person (Chia Thye Poh) relating it to him. There are also the minor factual errors, like saying that "the officially approved languages, apart from Malay, are a pseudo-BBC English and Mandarin Chinese". Tamil has always been a national language; so what did the author mean by "officially approved" language? There's mention of a "Singapore National University" - this is a non-existent university (and there are only two in Singapore!), and I suspect that the author means "National University of Singapore".

I don't want to detract from the book; it clearly is a major undertaking. But these minor errors feel like they throw the rest of the book into into question - how accurate is the author's retelling of history?

Other notes:

(1) this is the only chapter of the book when non-Chinese are quoted.

(2) Singapore as part of Greater China feels sort-of offensive - both Taiwan and Hong Kong can be argued to be part of China; Singapore doesn't.

(3) The author's words are interesting:

Being Chinese in Singapore is in any case anything but straightforward. For many people, especially among the lower, commercial classes - hawkers, shopkeepers, artisans, taxi drivers, minor civil servants - it is a matter of food, language, and vaguely remembered customs: burial rites, annual festivals, and family relations. Cultural identity is not something most of them are likely to worry about. They take it for granted. If anyone frets over identity it is the highly educated, English-speaking, westernised elite. It is they who want their children to learn Mandarin, take classes in Confucian ethics, and talk obsessively about being "Asian".

And

But it was there all the time, hanging in the air of almost encounter I had in Singapore - the fear of authority and the anxiety to appease it.

On the rest of the book as a whole

I felt like it was a book where the themes could have been brought up more clearly - either as a summary or a conclusion. There are little snippets here and there, for example, the use of religion to fill a spiritual need or the sense of ideology. Another theme: the distinction between being Chinese (as a racial/ethnic identity) and being China Chinese (as someone still living in China) could also have been brought clearer. For example - in the chapter about Taiwan, there is an interview with Mark Chen, who talks about Taiwanese independence because "we can never trust the Chinese". From that, the author says: "And again the idea, expressed by a Chinese, that other Chinese cannot be trusted, that, in Chen's words, the Chinese are "tricky people". "

A third possible theme - Chinese dissidents in exile (he talks about Singaporean Chinese in exile from Singapore; that could have been a counterpoint to the China Chinese he mentions). I was fascinated by the idea of zige (I suspect he means 资格), explained:

The pecking order among the exiles revolves around a key phrase: zige, meaning "credentials" or "qualificaations". To be a leader you need zige, indeed more zige than any rival. It is one of the most common phrases of abuse or dismissal: He has no zige to ... speak for the democratic movement or to organise a conference or to lead a party or to testify to a congressional committee. Zige can be earned in various ways and played like a trump card in an elaborate game whose rules are necessarily vague.

And yet he doesn't take it further - does this signify a need for authority? There is an analogy in the 2003 Introduction about the importance of order juxtaposed against democracy (disordered and violent)- "in most prisons, every cell has a boss and a hierarchy of henchmen. The boss gets to eat the best food and the best spot to sleep... but hard though it may be, at least there's order. Every man gets his food... Such an arrangement is better than a democracy cell. Democracy is what you get when there is no cell boss. The men fight one another like savages. They all want to be boss."

This book felt like there was a huge potential for analysis; just missed because the author tended to focus on what was happening. Also, the author's prediction about the communist party not lasting has not aged well.

[Spirohir · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the concept of Buruma's book chasing the Chinese diaspora around the world, before ending up on the Mainland itself. The chaotic world of dissidents and denunciations makes for depressing reading, as are the attempts of his subjects to explain what 'Chineseness' is and what 'we Chinese' meant. It is perhaps good then that he never attempts to be an expert, but instead writes as an outsider following the shattered dreams and lives around the globe. The book is inevitably one-sided, and the shades of grey that reality often is gets lost in the anger and disappointment - at times interspersed with hope and even delusion. But if anything, it tells the stories of many individuals who have lived to tell the tale despite horrifying experiences, and that in itself makes it worth a read.

Sadly, the book is already outdated, as events in the region have moved at breakneck speed towards loosening up of official controls (at least on the surface) and it now 16 years since the handover of Hong Kong (with increasing hostility towards mainlanders in the territory), the DPP in Taiwan has already gained and lost power (with many of his interviewees having held high political office since, thus completing the democratic evolution process in Taiwan), and Singapore too has more than a couple of elected opposition members of parliament with the governing party's share of the popular vote dipping closer towards the 50% mark. It would be fascinating to note the differences should a similar round of interviews be done today.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

A stunning piece of journalism, tracing Chinese dissident thought from the Tiananmen exiles in the US, to their heirs in China itself, stopping along the way in Hong Kong and Taiwan to masterfully dispel the paternalistic notion promoted by the Communist Party and its sycophants that Chinese people aren't "ready" for democracy. Depressingly, for a book published in 2001, its subject does not feel dated: China remains in the grip of authoritarianism, Hong Kong is teetering even more on the edge of being subsumed within it, and Taiwan still stands alone as a beacon of hope and progress. This is a fantastic book to read to understand how this can be the case, and what would need to be different in future to change course.

[Hope]

Good, but hard to follow at times. If you find it hard to keep foreign names straight, this will be a challenge. Still, it's intensely insightful and helps for the university students of this time understand what happened in Beijing in the spring of 1989.

[Channing · Rating 5 out of 5]

This man writes about contemporary politics in East Asia with a grace and finesse normally only encountered in intellectually aware popstars...

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

New-ish insights and perspectives from a partial side, barely comes together as a work. Still, read it and weep internally.

[Jennifer]

I learned about China, sort of.

[Xroldx · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting topics but very hard to really get into the book.