China's New Rulers : The Secret Files

Rating:
Summary: Look Inside Zhongnanhai
Review: This book is great for anyone from a curious reader to an "expert sinologist" (who rarely know what they are talking about). While I would never advocate accepting any foreign policy text-especially one on China-without serious skepticism, I think this is an overall accurate look at the inside.
As many of the other reviewers have noted, this book became dated as soon as it went to print, but that is not as big of a fault as one might imagine. With a quick glance at the news source of your choice (or the reviewer a little further down the page) will bring you up to date quite easily.
My one disagreement worthy of mention is his definition of the world multipolarity- "many nations having a say in world affairs." While I agree that is what American pundits mean by the term, I would argue that Chinese politicians mean something slightly different. Praise for multipolarity is actually an effort to tie the US down to the UN (where China of course wields a veto) and other means of international oversight of US foreign policy decisions. There is a subtle difference between the meaning in the this word in the lexicons of the leaders of the two nations. America means it much as the authors describe it, but China means it as constrain America.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating, and loads of explanatory power
Review: With the State and the Party so tied up together in China, trying to figure out the roles of the NPC, the State Council, the Politburo, Standing Committees, etc is extremely difficult! The best feature of this book is its ability to explain and clarify the role of each part of the Chinese government. Then again, maybe the best feature is its descriptions of the inside workings of the CCP. And then again, maybe the best feature is that after reading this book, you can read a New York Times article about Hu's possible liberal leanings, and say "What the?..." You'll know more than the average bear! Warning: This book is not necessarily an easy read, and will be most useful to those who take more than a passing interest in China.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating, and loads of explanatory power
Review: With the State and the Party so tied up together in China, trying to figure out the roles of the NPC, the State Council, the Politburo, Standing Committees, etc is extremely difficult! The best feature of this book is its ability to explain and clarify the role of each part of the Chinese government. Then again, maybe the best feature is its descriptions of the inside workings of the CCP. And then again, maybe the best feature is that after reading this book, you can read a New York Times article about Hu's possible liberal leanings, and say "What the?..." You'll know more than the average bear! Warning: This book is not necessarily an easy read, and will be most useful to those who take more than a passing interest in China.