Out Of Mao's Shadow by Philip P. Pan

From The Week of October 17, 2010

Even the most cursory of glances at the daily news will unearth a story or two about China: its ascendance as a global power, its dominance as an exporter, and its track to overtake the US as the world's biggest economy. While some of this is probably hot air, there can be no question that China is a country that will have an enormous impact on the 21st century. If it's to be a power, it must be measured, understood. And the only way to understand a thing is to investigate its past.

Mr. Pan, an author and a reporter for the Washington Post, uses his interviews with, and research into, numerous Chinese subversives to tell the story of China since Mao stormed onto the scene in the 1940s. From the legend of Lin Zhao, who was a believer in Mao until the 1950s when she was punished for sedition, to a doctor who spoke out against a government cover-up, to a newspaper man trying to tell the truth, Mr. Pan has assembled histories of some remarkable people, many of whom have faced humiliation, abuse, imprisonment, and death to speak out against the tyranny of the Chinese state which is described here as a system of communist councils welded onto the framework of what one might call authoritarian capitalism. The dignity and the bravery of Pan's subjects qualify them for the status of heroes and their plights won't soon be forgotten, but Mr. Pan's broader view of China overshadows the deprivations of its freedom fighters.

There's a quiet sadness here, an acknowledgement that, in spite of all these extraordinary sacrifices, little ground is being gained in the fight against the Chinese state. The crimes it has committed against its own citizens: the poverty, the famines, the imprisonments, the killings, the relocations, the lies, the suppressions... Nothing has stopped the tyrannical machine from churning onward, buoyed by a 15-year economic boom that has elevated tens of millions of Chinese out of oblivion. Profit, though, cannot and should not make up for the crimes which have held back this immense nation for so long. This is exceptional work, not just for its thorough reporting and its vivid interviews, but for the earnest, anxious energy that infuses its pages with the passion that comes from a need to see some measure of justice done, not just for the heroes herein, but for all the nameless, voiceless Chinese who've suffered as a result of government cruelty. (4/5 Stars)