Decision Making in Deng's China: Perspectives from Insiders (review)

© 1996 by University ofHawai'i Press Reviews 427 The goals ofthe authors, to alert Westerners to the dangers of interpreting China in Western terms, to insist that Western categories are just as much the product ofa historical development as Chinese ones, and to deparochialize the history ofideas, are wholly admirable. Their implementation of these goals, however , leaves something to be desired. Moreover, it is certainly surprising that their next planned foray uses "self," "truth," and "transcendence" in the subtide, for even ifthey will argue, as they presumably will, that such concepts do not apply to China, the focus on them would seem bound to bias the setting of the problems in ways close to those they here rightiy deplore. Geoffrey Lloyd University of Cambridge GeoffreyLloyd is a professor ofancientphilosophy and science at the University of Cambridge, and Master ofDarwin College. As announced in the Newsletter for the History of Chinese Science 3 (1993): 165-166, he is currently engaged in studies of Greek and Chinese science in collaboration with Nathan Sivin ofthe University of Pennsylvania. Carol Lee Hamrin and Suisheng Zhao, editors. Decision Making in Deng's China: Perspectivesfrom Insiders. Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1995. xlviii, 255 pp. Hardcover $65.00, isbn 1-56324-502-7. Paperback $25.00, isbn 1-56324-503-5. Reform produces winners as well as losers. As struggles over the direction ofreforms heated up in China in the 1980s, a sizable number ofliberal thinkers and speech writers fell out of favor because oftheir personal audacity or the falling fortunes oftheir patrons. A few of them, including Chen Yizi, Yan Jiaqi, Ruan Ming, and Su Shaozhi, along with many oftheir younger associates, ended up in the West following the upheaval of1989. To specialists ofChinese politics, the personal misfortunes ofthese reformers , who had worked in one way or another in close proximity to the top elite, have provided a welcome opportunity to learn more about the inner workings of Chinese politics. In this attractive volume, Carol Lee Hamrin, a Chinese Affairs specialist at the State Department, and Suisheng Zhao ofColby College bring together sixteen former insiders to reflect on their experiences in Chinese policy making. In addition to the four well-known dissidents named above, the partici- 428 China Review International: Vol. 3, No. 2, Fall 1996 pants also include (all former positions) a department head of the State Planning Division, a division chief at the Foreign Affairs Ministry, a section chiefof the Central Organization Department, and a People's Daily editorial writer and speech writer to Zhao Ziyang. A number of the contributors have chosen not to reveal their identities. By sheer number, this is perhaps the most impressive gathering of former insiders in one place. All in all, Hamrin and Zhao have elicited a highly varied and fascinating collection of essays. With the exception of an essay by Yan Jiaqi on the nature of Chinese authoritarianism, the Chinese contributions generally deal with specific topics such as die evolution of the Central Secretariat, and are not systematic assessments of the institutions or processes they discuss. Yet the lack of a systematic approach is more than made up for by the aura ofintimacy and authority conveyed by the contributors in the recounting of their personal experiences. For example , former People's Daily editorial writer Wu Guoguang illuminates what could have been a boring discussion of "documentary politics" by relating his involvement in drafting two important documents and thus sheds light on the giveand -take in this area of Chinese politics. Former Hu Yaobang speech-writer Ruan Ming provides only a sketchy overview of the evolution of the Central Secretariat and yet makes his chapter interesting by drawing on his personal experience to discuss Hu's use of the Secretariat to defend the special economic zones. Both accounts are only partial pictures—and yet all the more alluring. The book is divided into four parts, part 4 being devoted to comparisons and conclusions. The first part, "Central Leadership and Executive Systems," includes the essays by Yan Jiaqi, Wu, and Ruan as well as useful discussions ofthe cadre management system, the State Planning Commission, and the United Front. For many readers, perhaps the most interesting essay in...