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The New Emperors: China in the Era of Mao and Deng
This definitive work, based on 20 years of first-hand research and first-person interviews conducted by Pulitzer Prize-winner Salisbury, follows the lives of Mao and Deng from their rural childhood to their triumphant establishment of the People's Republic of China. "Reads as much like popular fiction as a work of history."--Orville Schell, The New York Times.
576 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
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About the author
Harrison E. Salisbury
127 books42 followersHarrison E. Salisbury was a long time reporter and editor at The New York Times. Earlier in his career he had worked for the United Press, which he joined after earning a B.A. at the University of Minnesota in 1930. He began his career in journalism as a part-time reporter for the Minneapolis Journal during 1928-29. Although he served in many different positions and places during his long career at the Times, Mr. Salisbury is perhaps most famous for his work as Moscow correspondent, covering the U.S.S.R. during the early years of the Cold War. After serving as the Times' Moscow Bureau Chief from 1949 to 1954, he returned to the U.S. and wrote a series of articles for which he won a Pulitzer Prize in 1955. He spent a great deal of time concentrating on Asia during his later years at the Times, covering the Vietnam War as well as many different issues and events having to do with China.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
February 7, 2023
When one typically thinks of 20th century dictators, a few names immediately come to mind: Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini. Mao Zedong is every bit as deserving, in a negative sense, of being included in that odious group. The atrocities that were committed under his long watch as ruler of China are every bit as sickening as those that the others perpetrated on their populations. Harrison Salisbury, a veteran journalist who spent much of his time overseas, writes about China from Mao's takeover in 1949 to the early 1990s, following the massacre at Tiananmen Square.
In our current day, there is much talk about a "cult of personality" around Donald Trump (who, by the way, is briefly mentioned here in a negative light - and this is decades before he became President). Mao had that cult going in full force. He and his minions had so brainwashed/scared into submission the Chinese people that they regarded Mao as some type of God, someone with extraordinary powers. He certainly did wield a lot of power: the power to destroy peoples' lives, to torture them, to take away all of their belongings, to have people beaten so horribly that they are left barely alive, to force them into communes. And what did these people do to deserve such cruel treatment? Usually, nothing at all.
In the late 1950s, Mao launched the Great Leap Forward. More like a giant leap backward. The peasants had everything taken away from them - literally. Even their own homes sometimes were destroyed. Everyone was forced to work collectively for the state. They had no incentive to work harder other than to avoid being beaten by security forces from the Party. Numbers were fabricated. Mao didn't care. The cult that he had created fed off of itself: he was surrounded by men who either painted a rosy picture no matter how dire the reality was, or people who were too afraid to challenge him and thus remained silent. Even people high up in the Party, such as Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping, offered next to nothing in terms of criticism. What Mao said, went.
Incredibly, as bad as the Great Leap Forward was, the Cultural Revolution - launched just a few years later in 1966 - was far worse. People were beaten by teenaged "Red Guards". The beatings and killings were based on nothing. People were falsely accused of being "capitalist roadsters" or something similar, and then physically attacked. People were taken away, tortured, then sometimes returned to their homes mere shells of what they used to be. Mao had high-ranking members of the Communist Party killed off, sometimes made to look like suicides or accidents. I have read a biography about Mao previously, yet I still could not tell you why he instituted this reign of terror. He was in control whether or not the Cultural Revolution occurred. I don't think there was an actual rational reason for any of this. Neither does Salisbury. On page 288 he writes about opium and how it has a long history in China, the origin of the expression "pipe dream", and posits that possibly Mao was addicted to it: "The concept of Mao's Cultural Revolution - a revolution against the Revolution, destruction of Party and state. creation of luan (chaos) in order to produce a new utopia - reeks of the same delusion-prone psyche."
As the 1970s dawned, Mao's health began to decline. Tensions with the USSR had steadily increased over the prior two decades. Mao never liked Stalin and did not trust his successors, nor did he trust Chinese who went to Russia to study - even in their youth. So even the Communists had divisions amongst themselves. There was finally an opening with America in 1972 when Richard Nixon visited. And gradually the Cultural Revolution wound down. Mao had killed off many of his potential successors, and Zhou Enlai died shortly before he did, so he brought Deng Xiaoping back into good graces as Deng had shown an uncanny ability to get things done.
After Mao's death, the narrative shifts to Deng and his efforts to move past the cultism of the Mao decades and re-energize the Chinese economy. Deng was big on public works projects. In that respect, he had a much broader vision of China, a China that engaged more on a global basis, than Mao did. Unfortunately, Deng was also a product of the system that he grew up in. The last few chapters of the book deal with Tiananmen Square and the killing of many citizens. I can't put a figure down as to how many were killed because we don't know. The Chinese secrecy that we saw on display more recently with their handling of Covid is not new. Student protests scared and angered Deng, and he put his foot down, sending in tanks to literally roll over people. Salisbury makes the observation that by this point in time Deng was quite advanced in age and was out of touch with what was going on in his own country and with how the world would react to what it saw coming out of Beijing.
Generally the writing is quite good, and Salisbury demonstrates a grasp of the country that not many Americans possessed given the time that he spent there and elsewhere in Asia and Russia. Still, the narrative does suffer some at the beginning because picking up when China becomes Communist in 1949 requires the reader to be familiar with how it got to that point. While Salisbury does refer back to seminal events such as the Long March, he does not dwell there since that is not the time period that he is focusing on. Chiang Kai-Shek, the Nationalist leader whom Mao eventually defeated and forced out of the country, is rarely mentioned. Taiwan, which has been a big sticking point in China's relationship with the United States, is not discussed at all. The opening of diplomatic relations with the U.S. in 1979 is covered in one sentence. I think these issues needed more coverage. Even Mao's poor relations with Nikita Khrushchev needed more exploration (Salisbury did do a good job of explaining the Mao/Stalin relationship). China's relations with India and Vietnam are not discussed. Those things might have altered the scope of the book; their inclusion certainly would have made it much longer. I think Salisbury wanted to keep the focus mostly on domestic matters, of which there was plenty of things to write about.
One other area that I would have preferred to have had covered much more in-depth was the Gang of Four and in particular Jiang Qing (Mao's last wife and one of the Gang). How did the Gang form? Why did they hold so much power that even Mao struggled to control them at times? What happened in their trial after Mao's death once Deng was in charge? Salisbury kept referencing them repeatedly, how they would and could destroy anyone that they disliked, and how their power was almost unchecked. Yet I did not get a good sense of who they were and what their ultimate goal was. That might be due to - once again - the Chinese penchant for secrecy. Nonetheless, more discussion and analysis of the Gang was needed, at least for me.
Overall this is a good look at China during Mao and Deng's time, and the atrocities that unfolded at the hands of both men. While this book is no longer current, that does not change its value in examining those particular decades, especially since Salisbury was familiar with the country and was able to interview many people who lived through those difficult times.
Grade: B+
In our current day, there is much talk about a "cult of personality" around Donald Trump (who, by the way, is briefly mentioned here in a negative light - and this is decades before he became President). Mao had that cult going in full force. He and his minions had so brainwashed/scared into submission the Chinese people that they regarded Mao as some type of God, someone with extraordinary powers. He certainly did wield a lot of power: the power to destroy peoples' lives, to torture them, to take away all of their belongings, to have people beaten so horribly that they are left barely alive, to force them into communes. And what did these people do to deserve such cruel treatment? Usually, nothing at all.
In the late 1950s, Mao launched the Great Leap Forward. More like a giant leap backward. The peasants had everything taken away from them - literally. Even their own homes sometimes were destroyed. Everyone was forced to work collectively for the state. They had no incentive to work harder other than to avoid being beaten by security forces from the Party. Numbers were fabricated. Mao didn't care. The cult that he had created fed off of itself: he was surrounded by men who either painted a rosy picture no matter how dire the reality was, or people who were too afraid to challenge him and thus remained silent. Even people high up in the Party, such as Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping, offered next to nothing in terms of criticism. What Mao said, went.
Incredibly, as bad as the Great Leap Forward was, the Cultural Revolution - launched just a few years later in 1966 - was far worse. People were beaten by teenaged "Red Guards". The beatings and killings were based on nothing. People were falsely accused of being "capitalist roadsters" or something similar, and then physically attacked. People were taken away, tortured, then sometimes returned to their homes mere shells of what they used to be. Mao had high-ranking members of the Communist Party killed off, sometimes made to look like suicides or accidents. I have read a biography about Mao previously, yet I still could not tell you why he instituted this reign of terror. He was in control whether or not the Cultural Revolution occurred. I don't think there was an actual rational reason for any of this. Neither does Salisbury. On page 288 he writes about opium and how it has a long history in China, the origin of the expression "pipe dream", and posits that possibly Mao was addicted to it: "The concept of Mao's Cultural Revolution - a revolution against the Revolution, destruction of Party and state. creation of luan (chaos) in order to produce a new utopia - reeks of the same delusion-prone psyche."
As the 1970s dawned, Mao's health began to decline. Tensions with the USSR had steadily increased over the prior two decades. Mao never liked Stalin and did not trust his successors, nor did he trust Chinese who went to Russia to study - even in their youth. So even the Communists had divisions amongst themselves. There was finally an opening with America in 1972 when Richard Nixon visited. And gradually the Cultural Revolution wound down. Mao had killed off many of his potential successors, and Zhou Enlai died shortly before he did, so he brought Deng Xiaoping back into good graces as Deng had shown an uncanny ability to get things done.
After Mao's death, the narrative shifts to Deng and his efforts to move past the cultism of the Mao decades and re-energize the Chinese economy. Deng was big on public works projects. In that respect, he had a much broader vision of China, a China that engaged more on a global basis, than Mao did. Unfortunately, Deng was also a product of the system that he grew up in. The last few chapters of the book deal with Tiananmen Square and the killing of many citizens. I can't put a figure down as to how many were killed because we don't know. The Chinese secrecy that we saw on display more recently with their handling of Covid is not new. Student protests scared and angered Deng, and he put his foot down, sending in tanks to literally roll over people. Salisbury makes the observation that by this point in time Deng was quite advanced in age and was out of touch with what was going on in his own country and with how the world would react to what it saw coming out of Beijing.
Generally the writing is quite good, and Salisbury demonstrates a grasp of the country that not many Americans possessed given the time that he spent there and elsewhere in Asia and Russia. Still, the narrative does suffer some at the beginning because picking up when China becomes Communist in 1949 requires the reader to be familiar with how it got to that point. While Salisbury does refer back to seminal events such as the Long March, he does not dwell there since that is not the time period that he is focusing on. Chiang Kai-Shek, the Nationalist leader whom Mao eventually defeated and forced out of the country, is rarely mentioned. Taiwan, which has been a big sticking point in China's relationship with the United States, is not discussed at all. The opening of diplomatic relations with the U.S. in 1979 is covered in one sentence. I think these issues needed more coverage. Even Mao's poor relations with Nikita Khrushchev needed more exploration (Salisbury did do a good job of explaining the Mao/Stalin relationship). China's relations with India and Vietnam are not discussed. Those things might have altered the scope of the book; their inclusion certainly would have made it much longer. I think Salisbury wanted to keep the focus mostly on domestic matters, of which there was plenty of things to write about.
One other area that I would have preferred to have had covered much more in-depth was the Gang of Four and in particular Jiang Qing (Mao's last wife and one of the Gang). How did the Gang form? Why did they hold so much power that even Mao struggled to control them at times? What happened in their trial after Mao's death once Deng was in charge? Salisbury kept referencing them repeatedly, how they would and could destroy anyone that they disliked, and how their power was almost unchecked. Yet I did not get a good sense of who they were and what their ultimate goal was. That might be due to - once again - the Chinese penchant for secrecy. Nonetheless, more discussion and analysis of the Gang was needed, at least for me.
Overall this is a good look at China during Mao and Deng's time, and the atrocities that unfolded at the hands of both men. While this book is no longer current, that does not change its value in examining those particular decades, especially since Salisbury was familiar with the country and was able to interview many people who lived through those difficult times.
Grade: B+
March 28, 2021
The establishment of the People’s Republic on October 1, 1949 brought a new dynasty to the forefront of Chinese political life but one with a Communist vocabulary while still relying on the Mandate of Heaven. The New Emperors: China in the Era of Mao and Deng by Harrison E. Salisbury follows the history of the first 40 years of the PRC through the lives of its first two leaders through to 1991 and the official end of the Cold War.
Harrison from the outset establishes how Mao’s decision to make Beijing the capital of the People’s Republic and his use of the Forbidden City as his residence along with that of his inner circle setting the new Communist regime in the mold of previous dynasties established by peasants. In fact, Mao’s study of the court histories of previous dynasties appeared to influence his governance more than Karl Marx, especially his admiration of Qin Shi Huang the first Emperor of the first dynasty of Imperial China. This admiration would result in his callous disregard of the lives of Chinese peasants during the Great Leap Forward and later the Cultural Revolution that stunted the entire nation for a decade as well as taking out numerous potential rivals for power, including the multiple demotions of Deng who persevered until Marshal Ye installed him in leadership through a military coup. Instead of following Deng’s reign leading up to Tiananmen Square, Harrison looked back from 1991 to how then-current China had developed under Deng before 1989 protests that momentarily undermined Deng’s control in the Party as well as the leadership not understanding the power of television when the Western nations began sanctioning them.
With three decades since the publishing of this book might have aged Salisbury’s thoughts on how China’s leadership would move towards 2000 poorly, however the historical content about Mao overall and the role the Cultural Revolution played into the response to Tiananmen are top notch. How Mao and later the Party have structured their hold on power by combining the Mandate of Heaven and Communist thought was interesting and provided context in understanding how events unfolded. Salisbury’s analysis of how the leadership that survived the beatings and tortures of the student Red Guards of the Cultural Revolution viewed the student protests of 1989 in that vein and wanted to suppress it at all costs. However, it is sobering to realized that the students of the Cultural Revolution are the leaders of China right now.
The New Emperors reveals that even as some regimes say they are a break from the past, they heavily rely upon it. Harrison E. Salisbury book might be 30 years, however it’s history of the rise of Mao and how Deng “saved” the Revolution is important to understanding the course of 21st Chinese history.
Harrison from the outset establishes how Mao’s decision to make Beijing the capital of the People’s Republic and his use of the Forbidden City as his residence along with that of his inner circle setting the new Communist regime in the mold of previous dynasties established by peasants. In fact, Mao’s study of the court histories of previous dynasties appeared to influence his governance more than Karl Marx, especially his admiration of Qin Shi Huang the first Emperor of the first dynasty of Imperial China. This admiration would result in his callous disregard of the lives of Chinese peasants during the Great Leap Forward and later the Cultural Revolution that stunted the entire nation for a decade as well as taking out numerous potential rivals for power, including the multiple demotions of Deng who persevered until Marshal Ye installed him in leadership through a military coup. Instead of following Deng’s reign leading up to Tiananmen Square, Harrison looked back from 1991 to how then-current China had developed under Deng before 1989 protests that momentarily undermined Deng’s control in the Party as well as the leadership not understanding the power of television when the Western nations began sanctioning them.
With three decades since the publishing of this book might have aged Salisbury’s thoughts on how China’s leadership would move towards 2000 poorly, however the historical content about Mao overall and the role the Cultural Revolution played into the response to Tiananmen are top notch. How Mao and later the Party have structured their hold on power by combining the Mandate of Heaven and Communist thought was interesting and provided context in understanding how events unfolded. Salisbury’s analysis of how the leadership that survived the beatings and tortures of the student Red Guards of the Cultural Revolution viewed the student protests of 1989 in that vein and wanted to suppress it at all costs. However, it is sobering to realized that the students of the Cultural Revolution are the leaders of China right now.
The New Emperors reveals that even as some regimes say they are a break from the past, they heavily rely upon it. Harrison E. Salisbury book might be 30 years, however it’s history of the rise of Mao and how Deng “saved” the Revolution is important to understanding the course of 21st Chinese history.
October 29, 2013
A difficult read, not because of the style or skill level of the author; rather, because the content is distressing.
Having read some of Mao's "Little Red Book"; it appears to me that Mao did not walk his talk - a serious hypocrite. Is it true that "absolute power corrupts absolutely"? This book, as well as some of what I witness living in Asia, makes this cliche seem to be the truth.
Before moving to and living in Asia, I believed in the "New Age" Philosophy that there are no victims. This book, Polpot's legacy in Cambodia are examples that appear to disprove that belief. Clearly, there are victims and evil perpetrators that inflict their unmerciful, unkind malevolence unjustly.
What will it take for mankind to learn to choose to live, speak and do "good"?
I apologize for my emotional judgments; this book is an emotionally challenging read.
Having read some of Mao's "Little Red Book"; it appears to me that Mao did not walk his talk - a serious hypocrite. Is it true that "absolute power corrupts absolutely"? This book, as well as some of what I witness living in Asia, makes this cliche seem to be the truth.
Before moving to and living in Asia, I believed in the "New Age" Philosophy that there are no victims. This book, Polpot's legacy in Cambodia are examples that appear to disprove that belief. Clearly, there are victims and evil perpetrators that inflict their unmerciful, unkind malevolence unjustly.
What will it take for mankind to learn to choose to live, speak and do "good"?
I apologize for my emotional judgments; this book is an emotionally challenging read.
September 22, 2017
I found this book quite informative not knowing too much about Mao or Deng. It was a very easy read and I enjoyed reading about the background to Mao coming to power, the Long March and about the key characters surrounding him. I also learned a good deal about Mao and China from the episodes outlined with Russian key players, but I will need to read more detailed works on both Mao and Deng's reigns overall as this book didn't go into the granular detail. Having almost no knowledge about Deng Xiaoping, it was fascinating to learn about the changes post-Mao and get an understanding of how both men shaped the China we see today. I would recommend it if, like me, you have little knowledge of China in the 20th century and are looking for a gentle introduction, it definitely left me with many more questions and much to learn about China's vast history.
April 26, 2020
This was a beginner’s book for those not familiar with modern Chinese history. But, its analysis is revealing and links both men to the leaders in Chinese history. It’s an easy and informative read.
July 23, 2007
A decent introduction to Mao and Deng, but not too scholarly. Good for the general reader.
May 29, 2017
Well written and tremendously informative. It puts current events in China in a very different light.
January 30, 2016
I enjoyed this book and appreciated the initial understanding it gave me of Mao and Deng - two figures I previously had not really read about. I came away from the book feeling not a great deal enlightened on Mao but I think that was because of the unfathomable nature of the man. Deng, on the other hand, comes across better - again, that's probably because he was not so much of a mystery in real life. Well worth a read.
October 11, 2017
A gem of a history, compactly but comprehensively discussing the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. A great option for anyone looking to fill in the gaps of 20th century world history.
March 5, 2021
3.5 stars
There are presumably many better books on the period published in the last 30 years, but I stumbled on this at a HPB and it covers exactly what I wanted: Mao and Deng from 1949-1989.
This is not a work of academic history - Salisbury was a journalist and the style here is often anecdotal; some chapters even take the form of dispatches from the field. Salisbury is not afraid to speculate, insinuating at one point that Mao may have been addicted to morphine (and stating as fact that Lin Biao was). The focus is sometimes lurid with much attention to Mao’s sex life and personal habits, but hey, if you’re reading a biography of Mao that’s part of the fun (it was for me, anyway). (This book is no more sensationalistic than Jung Chang’s hatchet job Mao: The Unknown Story and feels considerably more even-handed than that work.)
To be clear, this is primarily a work about Mao. Mao’s death occurs on page 370 of a 460 page book - the Deng era is given less than 100 pages - although Deng’s story during the Mao years is weaved throughout the book. If you’re looking for something about Deng or the post-Mao era in general, this is probably not your book.
Overall, this was an entertaining readable look at the period. I can’t comment on The New Emperors’ historical accuracy, but I would suspect that more recent works may provide better information due to archival access and further analysis by academic historians. If I were diving into the history of the PRC and choosing books from scratch today, I would probably pick up something more recent - there must be better books on Mao, the Cultural Revolution, Deng, and “the rise of modern China” - but I don’t know that there’s anything out there with the same mix of breadth and concision as this.
There are presumably many better books on the period published in the last 30 years, but I stumbled on this at a HPB and it covers exactly what I wanted: Mao and Deng from 1949-1989.
This is not a work of academic history - Salisbury was a journalist and the style here is often anecdotal; some chapters even take the form of dispatches from the field. Salisbury is not afraid to speculate, insinuating at one point that Mao may have been addicted to morphine (and stating as fact that Lin Biao was). The focus is sometimes lurid with much attention to Mao’s sex life and personal habits, but hey, if you’re reading a biography of Mao that’s part of the fun (it was for me, anyway). (This book is no more sensationalistic than Jung Chang’s hatchet job Mao: The Unknown Story and feels considerably more even-handed than that work.)
To be clear, this is primarily a work about Mao. Mao’s death occurs on page 370 of a 460 page book - the Deng era is given less than 100 pages - although Deng’s story during the Mao years is weaved throughout the book. If you’re looking for something about Deng or the post-Mao era in general, this is probably not your book.
Overall, this was an entertaining readable look at the period. I can’t comment on The New Emperors’ historical accuracy, but I would suspect that more recent works may provide better information due to archival access and further analysis by academic historians. If I were diving into the history of the PRC and choosing books from scratch today, I would probably pick up something more recent - there must be better books on Mao, the Cultural Revolution, Deng, and “the rise of modern China” - but I don’t know that there’s anything out there with the same mix of breadth and concision as this.
December 30, 2018
Very interesting stories but a little hard to keep up with all the names and places
February 20, 2020
It is a book I want to recommend to those who want to know deeply about China's modern history, which was full of scars but also brilliant. To celebrate the birth of the third emperor of the Chinese Communist Party following Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, let's read casually.
https://singingdalong.blogspot.com/20...
https://singingdalong.blogspot.com/20...
March 10, 2023
Fantastic double biography, from perhaps the best China observer. Salisbury, with some of Plutarch's genius, makes a Parallel Lives for China.
January 14, 2021
A detailed understanding in English with an unbiased almost 'insider' view
o-b-e
August 5, 2018OKAY, NEW CATEGORY HERE - these are the books that have been on my shelf for a while, but which I will probably never read because for whatever reason they are now OBE - "overtaken by events;" i.e., either irrelevant due to the passage of time and/or vicissitudes of history, or have simply been replaced by better books on the same topic.
And yes, I know I spend way too much time on Goodreads - but as addictions go it's probably better than internet porn. I think.
And yes, I know I spend way too much time on Goodreads - but as addictions go it's probably better than internet porn. I think.
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