Prisoner of the State, Renee Chiang
Prisoner of the State, Renee Chiang
List: $20.99 | Sale: $14.70
Club: $10.49

Prisoner of the State
The Secret Journal of Premier Zhao Ziyang

Author: Renee Chiang, Adi Ignatius, Bao Pu

Narrator: Norman Dietz

Unabridged: 13 hr 19 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 07/13/2009


Synopsis

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 listeners a front row seat to the secret inner workings of China's government. 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 on a quiet alley in Beijing. China's most promising change agent had been disgraced, along with the policies he stood for. The premier spent the last sixteen years of his life, up until his death in 2005, in seclusion. An occasional detail about his life would slip out: reports of a golf excursion, a photo of his aging visage, a leaked letter to China's leaders. But 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, describes the ploys and double-crosses China's top leaders use to gain advantage over one another, and talks about the necessity for China to adopt democracy in order to achieve long-term stability.

The China that Zhao portrays is not some long-lost dynasty. It is today's China, where the nation's leaders accept economic freedom but continue to resist political change. If Zhao had survived—that is, if the hard-line hadn't prevailed during Tiananmen—he might have been able to steer China's political system toward more openness and tolerance. Zhao's call to begin lifting the party's control over China's life—to let a little freedom into the public square—is remarkable coming from a man who had once dominated that square. Although Zhao now speaks from the grave in this moving and riveting memoir, his voice has the moral power to make China sit up and listen.

About Renee Chiang

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.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Kara

I’m not exactly up on the Chinese history; it’s not a subject that we covered much in school. Most of what I know comes by way of hazy pop culture references and exposure via the slightly counterfactual nature of science fiction and historical fiction. Moreover, having been born and raised subsequen......more

Goodreads review by Trish

Zhao Ziyang, former Chairman of the Communist Party in China, was politically sidelined in May 1989 and went into house arrest as a result of his opposition to the government response to students occupying Tiananmen Square in Beijing. This fascinating personal and secret memoir recorded in the years......more

Goodreads review by Jeff

The overall tone of the book is that either Zhao Ziyang is naïve about the intentions about the CCP or he trying to sound deliberately earnest in case his memoir is read by someone from the CCP who is a true believer. It was really eye-opening how scummy some of the CCP folk are. It seems like an org......more

Goodreads review by Curt

China is a complicated place. Truth is as malleable as play dough. Whether this work is an accurate depiction of historical events or a place setter in a contrived image, might be the subject of debate. It does give a glimpse into a part of what the political culture might be. The writing is excelle......more

Goodreads review by Arthur

Re-read after 8 years. Unique insight into the inner workings of the CCP and a must-read for every scholar and student of Chinese politics.......more