DISCOS AND DEMOCRACY: China in the Throes of Reform.

Schell, Orville.

ISBN 10: 039456829X / ISBN 13: 9780394568294

Published by Pantheon Books, New York, NY, U.S.A., 1988

About this Item

A vivid narrative about China's emergence into the modern world, conveying with startling immediacy the riptide of enthusiasm for Democracy that first swept China's universities, then its intellectuals, and finally its cities. Whether carrying us along on a student demonstration; describing the purging of dissident intellectuals from the Party; discussing China's traditional notion of human rights; or allowing us glimpses into the new unexpected worlds of Chinese bodybuilding, advertising, disco, and cosmetic surgery, Schell's eye is sharp and his analysis penetrating. As new, unread, first edition, first printing, in fine, mylar-protected dust jacket.{Not remainder-marked or price-clipped} NFBS2.

Seller Inventory # 2206

Bibliographic Details

• Title: DISCOS AND DEMOCRACY: China in the Throes of Reform.
• Publisher: Pantheon Books, New York, NY, U.S.A.
• Publication Date: 1988
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 039456829X
• ISBN 13: 9780394568294
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Printing: 1st Printing
• Condition: As New
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fine
• Seller catalogs:
  • Nonfiction

About this title

Synopsis

An intriguing account of the reform movements and changes sweeping across China offers a close-up analysis of China's head-on collision with modern Western democracy, its implications and impact, and the basic contradictions underlying the reform movement

Reviews

What China-watcher could have foreseen, only a few years ago, that the country would move from militant communist orthodoxy to an apparent headlong race toward capitalism? Schell (To Get Rich Is Glorious) spent a year in China to discover whether this metamorphosis is real or yet another mirage on the shifting sands of Chinese politics. Certainly, signs of a new spirit are everywhere. Schell recounts that free enterprise in Shanghai has skyrocketed, with a growth rate of 500%; stock exchanges have opened in several cities. And even Mao's guarantee of lifelong employment, the so-called Iron Rice Bowl policy, is beginning to rust as poorly performing workers are laid off. The lure of the forbiddenWestern culture with its glitzy array of movies, rock music, electronic equipment, high fashionis proving irresistible as many Chinese become disco devotees and eager consumers. Even such basic Western ideals as democracy are having an impact, especially among intellectuals and artists. But although the work ethic is rooted in Chinese tradition, independent thought and democratic participation emphatically are not. With the future still uncertain, Schell provides a clear, intelligent study of a society torn between a stagnating revolution and a newborn dynamism.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Schell, a career Sinologist, shows us the predicament of a changing nation opening its doors to foreign technology and capital but unable or unwilling to shut it on the accompanying Western values and crazes. He explains the dynamics behind political purges and controversies, student marches, popular culture, and the Party's attempts to keep a rein on democracy and the press. Schell is a political scientist and a roving reporter, combining brief journalistic narrative with lengthy discussion and quotation. He concentrates on the last ten years, especially 1986 and 1987. While Mark Salzman's Iron and Silk ( LJ 2/1/87) is a warm personal memoir, Schell's work is a chronicle with the compelling urgency of events unfolding before our eyes. Recommended for informed readers and scholars.Douglas W. Cooper, Randolph-Macon Coll. Lib., Ashland, Va.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.