Bad Elements - Softcover

Ian Buruma

3.96 out of 5 stars

109 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1843549638 ISBN 13: 9781843549635

Publisher: Atlantic Books, 2009

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From the Inside Flap

China is the world's most secretive superpower and in BAD ELEMENTS Ian Buruma reveals the Chinese-speaking world through the eyes of its dissidents.

As China's leaders attempt to refute the Tiananmen Papers, condemn Fauln Gong protests, and press Taiwan to embrace the one-China principle, a burning question emerges: Who are these opponents - struggling not only in the People's Republic but overseas, in the U.S., Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan - who dare to stand up to the Communist party's powerful rulers, and what drives them?

Buruma reports dramatically on exiles in California and religious dissidents in Beijing. He explores the tensions between cultural traditions and contemporary politics, illuminating Taiwan's transition from dictatorship to democracy and the handover of Hong Kong in 1997.

Part travelogue, part analysis, BAD ELEMENTS illuminates the story of the Chinese opposition for Western readers who want to understand where China is headed. Ian Buruma was educated in Holland and Japan, and spent many years in Asia, writing about it in books such as God's Dust, A Japanese Mirror, Behind the Mask and The Missionary and the Libertine. He is also the author of Playing the Game, The Wages of Guilt and Voltaire's Coconuts. He lives in London.

From the Back Cover

'For years, Ian Buruma has been writing some of the most trenchant and sophisticated commentary around on the cultural-political world known as Asia.' New York Times

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