Almost a half century has passed since the inception of the
People's Republic cf China. In that time a charismatic leader has
ruled and died, leaving a wake of .Destruction in his quest to
transform China. In that time, too, the PRC's most powerful ally
and mentor, the Soviet Union, has dismantled and announced that
jcmmunism had failed. Today, China fluctuates between tradition and
modernity, ideology and pragmatism, between an antiquated
collectivist ethic and a new spirit rf individualism. It is a
country precariously suspended between past and future.Maria Hsia
Chang's The Labors of Sisyphus is a long overdue reassessment of
rie meaning and purpose of the Chinese communist revolution. In it,
she discusses ihe thought of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, reform
and its dilemmas, regionalism in greater China and autonomous
areas, and nationalism. She also eyjnines China's immediate present
and uncertain future. If it manages to transform economic growth
into development, China - filled with natural resources and a
large, capable labor force - has the potential to become a world
superpower. It could also collapse under the weight of its own
problems: regionalism, a flawed state sector, corruption, and a
pronounced decline in state capacity. If China succeeds, an
imposing new economic power will enter the global stage, one that
is often arbitrary and prone to despotism and xenophobia, unless it
is tempered by political reform.Prior accounts of communist China
have failed to capture China's evolving present In all its
complexity and variety, misrepresenting Maoist China In the
process. Information shortfall was partly to blame: as recently as
August 1994, the Chinese government itself decried falsification of
statistics by government officials and cadres. Sinologists in the
1960s and 1970s had to approach analysis of contemporary China with
clear recognition of the limitations involved and the questionable
validity of the factual sources available. Maria Hsia Chang lends
structure, meaning, and purpose to the very complex recent
political and historical past of communist China. With greater
access to more accurate information, Chang is able to analyze
objectively, without political motive or intention, providing
readers with a fresh look at the People's Republic. Her
pathbreaking work will be of interest to scholars of international
economics and politics, sinologists, and historians.
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