China's rapid economic growth and the resulting improvement in millions' living standards are impressive, even when achieved at the hopefully temporary cost of massive environmental degradation. Pan, however, reveals that there are other major, though hidden, costs - all involving various abuses of the Chinese people. Further, it is easy to imagine that if China's only leadership were less paranoid and had less of an authoritarian history these abuses could be substantially reduced without hurting its economic growth.

Pan first takes readers through China's troubled 20th century under Mao, starting with the 1957 "Hundred Flowers Movement" to encourage what he thought would be mild criticism. Instead, the surge of vitriolic responses startled him and Mao reversed course, limiting debate and punishing those who spoke out. More than one-half million were shipped off to labor camps or exiled to work in the countryside.

However, the Hundred Flowers Movement pales in comparison with Mao's "Great Leap Forward" that began in 1958. Absurdly ambitious targets were set - eg. overtake the U.S. in steel production within 15 years. Millions were diverted from the fields, many to work on worthless backyard furnaces in which they were supposed to turn all their metal belongings into steel. The resulting agricultural shortages led to 30-50 million starving to death.

Another 1-2 million died in the Cultural Revolution that began May, 1966 - supposedly purging capitalist representatives that had infiltrated all levels of society.

Rather than temper China's leadership, however, these experiences under Mao have simply been largely erased from memory through rewriting published accounts to blame others and make the government look good; those writing contrary information risk long prison terms.

Pan then takes readers through an overview of abuses, starting with the estimated 10-40,000 coal miners killed/year (about 800X the U.S. death rate), prohibitions against unions and strikes, managers conspiring with officials to force factories into bankruptcy and pick up state assets at fire-sale prices. Then there's the arbitrary and very low compensation offered homeowners in the way of developers' projects (protesters risk being jailed or given nothing), excessive taxes levied against rural residents in some areas, the SARS epidemic becoming unleashed because state secrecy prevented hospitals from recognizing the need for isolation, and the arbitrary jailing and beatings of citizens - often for local government profit via extortion.

Courageous citizens fight back in each instance, and sometimes win partial victories. But most Chinese are kept in the dark via government control of the media, and nobody gets away Scot-free - bureaucrats always get their revenge. We saw this again when the government suppressed protests against poor school construction exposed in the recent Chinese earthquake tragedy.

China has yet to escape Mao's shadow.

China's rapid economic growth and the resulting improvement in millions' living standards are impressive, even when achieved at the hopefully temporary cost of massive environmental degradation. Pan, however, reveals that there are other major, though hidden, costs - all involving various abuses of the Chinese people. Further, it is easy to imagine that if China's only leadership were less paranoid and had less of an authoritarian history these abuses could be substantially reduced without hurting its economic growth.

Pan first takes readers through China's troubled 20th century under Mao, starting with the 1957 "Hundred Flowers Movement" to encourage what he thought would be mild criticism. Instead, the surge of vitriolic responses startled him and Mao reversed course, limiting debate and punishing those who spoke out. More than one-half million were shipped off to labor camps or exiled to work in the countryside.

However, the Hundred Flowers Movement pales in comparison with Mao's "Great Leap Forward" that began in 1958. Absurdly ambitious targets were set - eg. overtake the U.S. in steel production within 15 years. Millions were diverted from the fields, many to work on worthless backyard furnaces in which they were supposed to turn all their metal belongings into steel. The resulting agricultural shortages led to 30-50 million starving to death.

Another 1-2 million died in the Cultural Revolution that began May, 1966 - supposedly purging capitalist representatives that had infiltrated all levels of society.

Rather than temper China's leadership, however, these experiences under Mao have simply been largely erased from memory through rewriting published accounts to blame others and make the government look good; those writing contrary information risk long prison terms.

Pan then takes readers through an overview of abuses, starting with the estimated 10-40,000 coal miners killed/year (about 800X the U.S. death rate), prohibitions against unions and strikes, managers conspiring with officials to force factories into bankruptcy and pick up state assets at fire-sale prices. Then there's the arbitrary and very low compensation offered homeowners in the way of developers' projects (protesters risk being jailed or given nothing), excessive taxes levied against rural residents in some areas, the SARS epidemic becoming unleashed because state secrecy prevented hospitals from recognizing the need for isolation, and the arbitrary jailing and beatings of citizens - often for local government profit via extortion.

Courageous citizens fight back in each instance, and sometimes win partial victories. But nobody gets away Scot-free - bureaucrats always get their revenge.

China has yet to escape Mao's shadow.

China is a country without modern parallel. With 1.3 billion people, recent history of tremendous economic failure under Mao, and economic development over the last 20 years that is unmatched in the history of the world, this is a country of extremes. Philip Pan shows us only one side of the story. The China Pan describes is an endless plain of despair and discontent, with hardship and injustice for the masses and corruption based wealth for the few.

The stories Pan tells are all true. The stories are well documented. They are told with insight and perspective from both sides. Never the less, do not believe that reading this book will give you a fair perspective on the full spectrum of modern China.

Other recent books on China may have been unfairly focused on the economic growth that has helped so many in China. The other books may be countered by this book, which I believe unfairly focuses on the turmoil and misfortune that has followed the rapid economic change. There is truth in both stories, but those who truly understand China find the reality of the situation somewhere in between. Without a doubt, this is an important book, but do NOT let this be the only book you read about China. It's far too one-sided.

Interesting insight into the current Chinese government's power over their peoples. Compelling stories about some of the dissidents involved in the Tiananmen Square uprising and the country's continued crackdown on their citizens. Interesting read on how Western capitalism, though it appears only materially, has lulled the Chinese people into acceptance of their government's stronghold over this nation.

Philip Pan's book was excellent in understanding how the China of today has evolved. Each chapter is a story of how particular Chinese were involved in the history of the last 60 years of history. The reader should be able to understand how the last 20 to 30 years of Mao's reign, eratic as he was, effected the people of China. China was a closed society in the 50s and 60s, so information on the Great Leap Forward, the Red Guards and the Gang of Four is not readily known to most readers. Understanding how the Chinese transformed their industry from state industry to private control was fascinating. Having traveled in China and listening to the guide, Pan's book helped provided a great deal of information not shared in the tour.

A mix of history and political analysis from a region and period in which records are systematically destroyed, and authors like Pan are fighting to preserve the truth.
The book paints a picture of a modern Orwellian state, describing, in detail, the contortionist social policies of a communist party that managed to cling to power long after communism became internationally discredited.
For example: the distortion of language for propaganda, the exploitation of nationalism, the systematic partitioning of farmers and peasants away from the central power structures, and the kidnap and remorseless torture of dissidents; Pan lifts all of these elements from the pages of '1984' and moves them to the non-fiction section with this expose'.
The story is also predictive. Pan casts serious doubt on the hopeful -possibly naive- assumption that capitalism will inevitably democratize China. Pan describes modern life in China as more free than it has ever been, though the story he tells is still draconian by most western standards, and his work gives good reason for the rest of the world to be gravely concerned about the future of world's next superpower.
At the same time, however, a powerful human element is brought to the fore: Pan interviews ordinary and extraordinary citizens and shows how the pain and despair of the last 5 decades, on both the individual and social scale, have led to a culture of citizens disengaged from politics.
Pan provides a scathing indictment of the officials and opportunists who exploit the status quo, but also a tribute to the courage and sacrifice of the few people willing to challenge the system; the painful decisions they make and the prices they pay are both inspiring and heartbreaking.
After reading, one is left cheering for the unsung heroes of a far away nation, hoping that eventually their stories will be revered at home, and that their images will be used to replace that of big brother over-looking the blood-soaked ground of Tienanmen square.

I generally don't write reviews, but I felt it necessary in this case to provide a counter to the almost unanimous number of positive reviews listed on this site.

I purchased this book because Philip Pan is an award-winning journalist who lived in China from 2000 to 2007. I thought this meant that he would be able to give some insight into China's people and be able to write about things that have gone unreported outside of China. In essence I was hoping that this book would actually deliver on its subtitle of "The Struggle For The Soul Of A New China" in that it would provide a unique perspective of China today.

Sadly, it turns out that this book could have been written by a college student living in Idaho for the past decade. Let's do a quick rundown of this book's subject matter: a bestselling book (An Investigation of China's Peasantry), an award winning documentary (Searching for Lin Zhao's Soul), and a series of stories that were extensively covered by the international press (SARS, the shourong detention system, the single child initiative, press censorship, and the seizure of personal property by the government).

It seems as if Pan simply read the paper each day, picked a few stories that would support his view of China, and then liberally sprinkled the text of those stories with his own opinions on the many problems with China's current government. In fact, in the few cases where one of this book's stories mandates a mention of a positive policy change by China's government to effectively conclude the story, Pan only devotes a line or two to the change, and then he quickly discounts it by writing that the only reason they made the change was because not doing it would have been worse for the government. There seems to be no real investigative journalism on the part of Pan at all (to be fair though I guess he did manage to gain entrance to a publicized court proceeding that was restricted to the population of an entire town).

He takes no time to focus on the subtleties of a country that is in transition yet again on the heels of two successive horrific governments (Chiang Kai-shek and Mao). It might be possible that the Chinese people as a whole may be reluctant to push hard for a new political structure when they now have a government that is doing a good job at making their country prosperous once more, but you won't learn anything about that in this book. This book would have you believe that every single person in China hates the current government and wants immediate change (whereas an above review notes that in surveys nine out of ten Chinese are optimistic and positive about their country and where China is heading). Such a blatant lack of objectivity does nothing to promote any kind of understanding. China's current government has plenty of problems, but to write a book about China without addressing any of its successes makes the book seem more like propaganda than an honest portrayal of China today.

The funny thing is that many of the stories he uses to illustrate the problems with China's government are present right here in the United States. He talks of corruption by public officials, of sweetheart deals for people who are in good with the government, and of press censorship (all of which are common basically everywhere in the world to varying degrees). He also focuses on the seizure of personal property even though that practice (known as eminent domain) is quite common in the United States and elsewhere (search eminent domain on Google to see how common it is in the USA). This of course does not mean the United States government is bad or evil, but rather identifies some issues in an otherwise excellent government.

Using Philip Pan's approach for this text, one could easily write this same book about the United States or any other country by focusing only on its negatives and neglecting to address any positives. It is a shame too, because many of the stories in this book are about truly remarkable people. However, Philip Pan does these people a disservice by using them to meet his own needs and essentially making them a part of a propaganda piece (as opposed to simply focusing on their stories). I will give it two stars though since I do think many of these stories are very compelling. It is worth reading about the heroic people in the book, just be careful not to be drawn into Pan's propaganda, and realize this is only one side of the story.

I generally don't write reviews, but I felt it necessary in this case to provide a counter to the almost unanimous number of positive reviews listed on this site.

I purchased this book because Philip Pan is an award-winning journalist who lived in China from 2000 to 2007. I thought this meant that he would be able to give some insight into China's people and be able to write about things that have gone unreported outside of China. In essence I was hoping that this book would actually deliver on its subtitle of "The Struggle For The Soul Of A New China" in that it would provide a unique perspective of China today.

Sadly, it turns out that this book could have been written by a college student living in Idaho for the past decade. Let's do a quick rundown of this book's subject matter: a bestselling book (An Investigation of China's Peasantry), an award winning documentary (Searching for Lin Zhao's Soul), and a series of stories that were extensively covered by the international press (SARS, the shourong detention system, the single child initiative, press censorship, and the seizure of personal property by the government).

It seems as if Pan simply read the paper each day, picked a few stories that would support his view of China, and then sprinkled the text of the book with his opinions on the many problems with China's current government. There seems to be no investigative journalism on the part of Pan at all (to be fair though I guess he did manage to gain entrance to a court proceeding that was restricted to the population of an entire town).

He takes no time to focus on the subtleties of a country that is in transition yet again on the heels of two successive horrific governments (Chiang Kai-shek and Mao). To lump the current government in with Mao is ridiculous. In fact, this kind of capitalistic authoritarian government has very little to do with Communism. It might be possible that the Chinese people as a whole may be reluctant to push hard for a new political structure when they now have a government that is doing a good job at making their country prosperous once more, but you won't learn anything about that in this book. This book would have you believe that every single person in China hates the current government and wants immediate change (whereas an above review notes that in surveys nine out of ten Chinese are optimistic and positive about their country and where China is heading). Such a blatant lack of objectivity does nothing to promote any kind of understanding. China's current government has plenty of problems, but to write a book about China without addressing any of its successes makes the book seem more like propaganda than an honest portrayal of China today.

The funny thing is that many of the stories he uses to illustrate the problems with China's government are present right here in the United States. He talks of corruption by public officials, of sweetheart deals for people who are in good with the government, and of press censorship (all of which are common basically everywhere in the world to varying degrees). He also focuses on the seizure of personal property even though that practice (known as eminent domain) is quite common in the United States and elsewhere (search eminent domain on Google to see how common it is in the USA). This of course does not mean the United States government is bad or evil, but rather illustrates some issues in an otherwise excellent government.

Using Philip Pan's approach for this text, one could easily write this same book about the United States or any other country by focusing only on its negatives and neglecting to address any positives. It is a shame too, because many of the stories in this book are about truly remarkable people. However, Philip Pan does these people a disservice by using them to meet his own needs and essentially making them a part of a propaganda piece (as opposed to simply focusing on their stories). I will give it two stars though since I do think many of these stories are very compelling. It is worth reading about the heroic people in the book, just be careful not to be drawn into Pan's propaganda, and realize this is only one side of the story.

This book provides great insight into a handful of cases that highlight corruption, greed and failed politics in China over time. It will likely stir emotions in many native Chinese readers as a hard look at reality.

We all may have different views, theories and experiences with China. However, we all must agree that there is a need for greater transparency, improved human rights and a deep revealing look into the corruption of many highly regarded party members. No country is perfect, but China heavily struggles with aligning the interests of its citizens, with those of its few officials.

I read this book during the Beijing Olympic games. Afterwards, it made me pay extra attention seeing stories like today's "Two seventy year old women sentenced to re-education for attempting to register for the official protests", and "China Practically Unreachable By Western SMS?".

There's a pejorative that we Chinese overseas hold about American-born Chinese, i.e. the "jook-sing." In Chinese parlance, this is a bamboo section which is closed on both ends of the nodes.

Phillip Pan is a "joon-sing" trying to interpret China and Chinese society through his biased, filtered lenses as a Westernized Chinese-American living in a society assigned to China as a Washington Post bureau chief living in privileged expat enclaves.

His type often tries to flush out the bizzarre, the unorthodox, the rebels, the mavericks, the non-conformists in a country of 1.3 billion people. Similarly, having lived here in America, as a Chinese, I can easily flush out the "armpit" side of America, in the stories of many of America's rebels, mavericks, dissidents, and "political prisoners" and "prisoners of conscience."

Mr. Pan sees the trees, but not the forest. It is apparent that he is befuddled by his Europeanized, Westernized baggage, and he swallows "hook, line, sinker" the false notion that "The Western Moon is rounder; and the Western Fart smells much much more fragrant."\

Frankly, in any society, and political governments, whether in the U.S. or China, you can find the "armpit" smelly sides.

Official corruption in China ? Big deal. How about in the USA ?

At this writing, California is deep in the hole by a tune of US$ 17 billion in a fiscal year which has operated with a gridlocked legislature and a grandstanding showboating governor, Arnaud, Mr. Hollywood.

Our public officials and civil servants have become so uncivil and parasitic that they have fundamentally leeched and fed on government largeese and sucked the public till dry. And these pigs feeding off the public troll are not corrupt ? Holly Dolly.

Gimme a break. Mr. Pan worships the American fart, which he deems to smell much more fragrant.

That he elects to hype and markets his book in order to make mucho dinero points to the intellectual naivite of this obviously smart "jook sing."

The only problem is he sees the trees in detail but can't see the forest.

He is what I call a "white man trapped in a Chinese body." How sad. And he is acting as a shill for China bashers and Chinese Demonizers. In America today, being a CB and a CD sells. And it is PC.

In his China book Philip Pan, former Washington Post bureau chief in Beijing, chooses to write about the heroic individuals who dared to defy the inexorable force that is the Communist Party of China. He writes about an unemployed documentary filmmaker Hu Jie whose life passion is resurrecting a young woman who dared speak up against Mao Zedong. There's this doctor who -- defying government censors -- revealed the SARS epidemic to the nation, thus saving thousands of lives. There are the labor activists who rallied their fellow laid-off workers against corruption. And then there are the lawyers and the journalists who are always pushing the envelope, trying inch by inch to create institutions -- rule of law and freedom of expression -- that can restrain the abusive authority of the Party.

Philip Pan is a very fluid writer but the book nevertheless feels thin. And worse than feeling thin it feels irrelevant and insignificant. Two thousand and eight is, after all, China's Olympic year -- when America's economy suffers from recession China's economy is booming. In surveys nine out of ten Chinese are optimistic and positive about their country and where China is heading. And the people that Philip Pan writes about so admiringly in his new book are the marginalized intellectuals and the disaffected poor who nostalgically yearn for a time that never was and dream of a future that can never be. And so for Americans and Chinese alike they're irrelevant and insignificant.

That's sad because Philip Pan and his heroes are right. China is a complete mess, and rather than being subversive these individuals who defy the system are the true patriots because with their criticisms and actions they are trying to make the nation-state stronger and more stable.

China right now suffers from a corrupt and ossified bureaucracy determined at all costs to maintain power. China's curious and cowardly blend of authoritarianism and capitalism means that China's Gini co-efficient is comparable to that of Latin America, its pollution problem is a national shame and seriously threatens China's future growth, and China never before has witnessed so much crime and moral decay. And yet -- because multinationals are still pouring into China, because Americans cannot shopping at Walmart, and because China itself is spending hundreds of billions on new infrastructure and factories -- the Chinese economy in the past two decades has managed to create a middle-class that is now the bedrock of Communist Party support. And what the middle-class in their steadfast support blithely ignores is that China's "socialism with Chinese characteristics" is a system built on contradictions and lies and illusions.

And that's what the characters in Philip Pan's book refuse to ignore. The Party's greatest contradiction, lie, and illusion is that it's possible to have economic reform without political reform.

Consider the free market. The free market needs independent media and channels of information to create efficient pricing and distribution and marketing -- but the Party insists on maintaining control over newspapers and the Internet. Now the Party may say that it'll allow economic reporting but not political reporting but what's important for the media to have any real impact on consumers is perceived independence -- so it's in the media's self-interest to report on SARS because that makes their economic reporting more credible.

Consider also the free movement of goods, which is crucial to the free market. The Chinese provinces are controlled by local party bosses which adamantly protect their self-interest and the interest of their constituents. So that means they'll protect local industry by preventing competition from coming into town -- which hampers the economy. And they'll also tax peasants, and steal their land.

So here the Party's interest in strengthening the Chinese economy is perfectly aligned with peasant lawyers who want to break the local tyranny of the Party bosses. But in these cases the Party chooses to side with the Party bosses. Why? Because at the end of the day the Party is only interested in maintaining its monopoly of power, and that in turn means turning a blind eye to the rapacious and corrupt behavior of local bosses in return for their fealty.

That is the sad unfortunate conclusion that the lawyers, journalists, and labor activists come to -- and which we also come to -- at the end of Mr. Pan's book. They always believed that they could change the system gradually from within -- and that weakness is ultimately what will make them irrelevant and insignificant in history's eyes.

As China's economic contradictions finally collapse into each other causing a financial earthquake that will rent society asunder this current generation of activists will be very soon supplanted by another generation of activists -- people who immediately see that the problem is the system itself, and their first reaction will be violence not discussion.

That's even more sad because in these individuals who believed in themselves, in China, and ultimately in the Party stood China's last best chance for real progress.

There are a lot of excellent books on modern China out there, but this one is a cut above. I think, as a newspaperman, Mr. Pan knows how to grab and hold his reader's attention. I was unable to put it down for a few days. He also gets very deep into the story, talking to the affected people, but also putting everything into historical context. Lastly, I'm glad this book doesn't try to shoehorn everything into some grand hypothesis about China's imminent superpower status. I was happy to learn about the general trends of public discourse and human rights since the Mao era through the stories of some particular citizens who turn out to be heroes in their own way.

Excellent. I couldn't put it down. I would like to read more about the people in China and their fight for democracy. I hope Philip Pan writes another book.

I got this book for my Kindle. I cannot get in bookstores here in Shanghai. This is one big advantage of the Kindle, being able to download books that are banned here in China.

This book is great for people interested in the recent history of China.

Read this and read also Wild Swans, Three Daughers of China. Two of the best books on the last part of the last century.

Steven
Shanghai

I finished this book in two days because I couldn't bear to put it down and it was completely engaging on both intellectual and emotional levels. It's compelling, heart-breaking, compulsively readable and an incredible piece of reporting. Phillip Pan is an amazing writer/reporter and this book allows him a larger canvas to showcase his talents. But what Mr. Pan does best is that he lets others speak: he gives voice to the many individuals who have attempted to stand up to the Chinese government in order to better Chinese society. He also places this struggle in the context of Chinese history, exposing how the Chinese government's authoritarian rule is a betrayal of its original communist ideals. The stories in his book are moving and inspiring. This book is a must-read for those interested in contemporary Chinese politics and society.

"Out of Mao's Shadow" is an amazing book because Pan has done what few if any foreign correspondents or academic writers about China have ever done. He's not only gotten below the surface, he's dug deep, really deep into the zeitgeist of modern China. Each chapter surprises you with twist and turns. And throughout it all, Pan is there as a steady guide. Worried about China as the next superpower? Read this book and then decide.

I read lots of history and politics. This by far the best book I've read in ages. I read it twice cover to cover, I couldn't put it down. If you have any interest in China you must read this. Exceptional and greatly researched.