After the Nightmare (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 231 China also declared itself to be the leader of the Third World, thereby placing itself in a potentially adversarial position vis-à-vis the United States and the Soviet Union. This forced China to exploit any differences arising between Moscow and Washington, which in turn— according to Medvedev—explains Deng's friendly advances to the United States. The continued Sino-Soviet split is blamed on Chinese Sinocentrism and on traditional Chinese fear of the Russians. Medvedev denies that the Russian people have a traditional fear of the Chinese, despite many arguments to the contrary. His only criticism of the Soviet leadership is that they have not done enough to improve their poor image in China. The fourth section examines what the future holds for China. Medvedev applauds China's New Economic Policy, which is designed to introduce a mixed economy into the country; he compares it favorably with Lenin's plans to introduce a limited amount of capitalism in the early years of the Soviet state. He also accepts the logic of China's approach to the West for technological and economic assistance — areas in which the Soviet Union trails the West. Nonetheless , he questions how effective such aid will be, citing the examples of Poland and Argentina, countries that accepted modern technology and economic aid from the United States and Western Europe. The recipient countries were not ready for this assistance, and they were left as badly off as they were before the aid was received. Medvedev also points out that Western aid is not given for reasons of altruism — and that such "help" has in the past forced these nations to make political or economic compromises. Therefore, it might be more prudent for the Chinese to look to the Soviet Union for help, since, he writes, Soviet aid is not given out of a desire for political gain and Soviet technology is more appropriate for China's level of development. In conclusion, Medvedev places great faith in the effective leadership of Deng Xiaoping and his successors. A strong, stable China, he indicates, could exert a pacifying influence on the world, but a weak, unstable China could lead to disaster. The book treats the subject fairly and places responsibility for the current state of great power relations equally on all three powers. For this it is exceptional . Although the translation is occasionally awkward, it is an eminently readable work, and Medvedev's final conclusion— that all three powers must come to a compromise beyond their ideologies in order to create world peace— should be welcomed by any reader. After the Nightmare. By Liang Heng and Judith Shapiro. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1986. 240 pp. $16.95/cloth. Reviewed byJennifer E. Koch, researcher, New York Coordination Council of the Republic of China. Senior Chinese statesman Deng Xiaoping has implemented new economic policies in the People's Republic that have introduced free-market principles in the countryside ; now they are being implemented in urban settings. The new book by Liang Heng andJudith Shapiro offers anxious foreign observers an opportunity 232 SAIS REVIEW to view the outcome of these efforts, and the result is a thoroughly readable account of China's urban economic transition. After the Nightmare is the result of a recent journey to the People's Republic of China by the married couple, a journey that Liang, a victim of the cultural revolution, might have previously considered impossible. Ten years after Mao's death, with Sino-American relations reestablished and Liang an American citizen, Liang and his wife were able to travel throughout China, interviewing people in an attempt to find out what the recent policy reforms mean to the "common man." This work goes well beyond the personal account of their previous book, Son of the Revolution, since it employs an anecdotal style that highlights characters from diverse walks of life. The reader meets journalists, factory workers, restaurant owners, and children of high-level party officials; each possesses his or her own way of coping with the atrocities suffered during the cultural revolution, and offer their interpretations of, and reactions to, the new reforms. The book manages to focus on many different segments of Chinese society...