China's New Rulers: The Secret Files

by Andrew J. Nathan

Based on confidential Chinese Communist Party files, offers an inside look at the leading political issues under debate and the new group of "Fourth Generation" leaders to take office following the party's 16th Congress in November, 2002.

Genres: China, Politics, History, Asia

150 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2002

About the author

Andrew J. Nathan is Class of 1919 Professor of Political Science at Columbia University. His teaching and research interests include Chinese politics and foreign policy, the comparative study of political participation and political culture, and human rights. He is engaged in long-term research and writing on Chinese foreign policy and on sources of political legitimacy in Asia, the latter research based on data from the Asian Barometer Survey, a multi-national collaborative survey research project active in eighteen countries in Asia.

Born on April 3, 1943, in New York City, Professor Nathan received his degrees from Harvard University: the B.A. in History, summa cum laude, in 1963; the M.A. in East Asian Regional Studies in 1965; and the Ph.D. in Political Science in 1971. He taught at the University of Michigan in 1970-71 and has been at Columbia University since 1971.

Reviews

[Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a translation, with commentary, of leaked portions of internal files compiled by the Chinese Communist Party to aid in its leadership selection process back during the last handover of power 10 years ago.

The information is quite dated, but it presents a fascinating look into how the Chinese Communist Party selects its leadership, the skills it values, the factional feuds, and the dynamics under which these feuds, and broader policies, unfold.

While the Tiananmen Papers were a look at the Deng-era government of China acting amidst a crisis, these files represent the party bureaucracy acting in a time of relative calm. I was impressed by the honesty with which the files were compiled (it takes a certain amount of honesty to admit that your future Supreme Leader had lackluster performance in his early career and his primary virtue was keeping his nose clean), and the factional alignments they detail gave enormous insight into Chinese politics (most particularly with reference to the Bo Xilai affair).

As with all primary source material, one has to pay some attention to the special perspective of the source, particularly since the reader is not the intended audience. Nathan and Gilley do a great job of putting in enough explanatory background material so that very little seems completely mysterious, but the reader can (and I almost certainly did!) miss some things.

[Miriam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very insightful about the inner workings of the high circles of the Chinese Communist Party. Briefly, the impression I received was the CCP as a completely authoritarian government who chooses its leaders based upon a combination of merit and cronyism. However, the textbook-style feel to the novel took away some of its potential enjoyment.

[Drew Mcfadzean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent context for the forthcoming 19th party Congress and a great look into the circumstances that led to the largely ineffectual Hu Jintao era.

[Chris Roy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got halfway through this but had to stop.. provides some pretty neat insights into what allegedly goes on behind the scenes with the selection of China's top politicians and pairs these with anecdotes from an anonymous observer. A good book if you have to read it, but a little dry if you're looking for a fun read.

[Neal · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book is 5 years out dated now that the 17th Party Congress just ended, but it gives really in depth background on many of the leaders that are still in power today.