Product Description

How often can you peek behind the curtains of one of the most secretive governments in the world? Prisoner of the State is the first book to give readers a front row seat to the inner workings of China. It is the story of Premier Zhao Ziyang, the man who brought liberal change to that nation and who, at the height of the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, tried to stop the massacre and was dethroned for his efforts. When China's army moved in, killing hundreds of students and other demonstrators, Zhao was placed under house arrest at his home in Beijing. China's most promising advocate for change had been disgraced, along with the policies he stood for. The Premier spent the last 16 years of his life, up until his death in 2005, in seclusion. China scholars often lamented that Zhao never had his final say. As it turns out, Zhao did produce a memoir, in complete secrecy. He methodically recorded his thoughts and recollections on what had happened behind the scenes during many of modern China's most critical moments. The tapes he produced were smuggled out of the country and form the basis for Prisoner of the State. In this audio journal, Zhao provides intimate details about the Tiananmen crackdown; he describes the ploys and double-crosses China's top leaders use to gain advantage over one another; and he talks of the necessity for China to adopt democracy in order to achieve long-term stability. A moving and riveting memoir, Zhao's voice has the moral power to make China sit up and listen.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #36949 in Books
• Published on: 2009-05-19
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 336 pages

About the Author
Bao Pu, a political commentator and veteran human rights activist, is a publisher and editor of New Century Press in Hong Kong. Renee Chiang is a publisher and the English editor of New Century Press in Hong Kong. As a teacher in Beijing in 1989, she was an eyewitness to the Tiananmen Square crackdown. Adi Ignatius is an American journalist who covered China for the Wall Street Journal during the Zhao Ziyang era. He most recently served as Time magazine's deputy managing editor.

Customer Reviews

Prisoner of the State
I was very keen to read this book when I read about it in the newspapers as I feel it is a fascinating time in our history. It gives an insight into what brought about the events in Beijing and it allows the reader so see how something so simple really got out of hand. If Zhao had had his way, it is quite likely that China would have been a different place now to what it is. For anyone interested in recent Chinese history and world history as well, this is a very useful read. I have to say, however, that I found it hard going. I am not sure why but it was not to do with the fact that it wasn't interesting. I felt that I really had to work at it.

exceptional!
This is a truely exceptional book which offers a unique insight into China, the communist party, its attempted reform and the power struggle of the communisit key figures which eventually caused the incident in Tiananmen square and the downfall of Zhaoziyang.

Valuable yet Predictable
There can be very little doubt with regard to the difficulty and value of these tapes, transgressed onto paper in the form of this book. Yet, anyone with an understanding of human nature either through empirical history or otherwise, can not be surprised by what is otherwise a mundane and predictable insight into China and her leadership.