Leading Chinese journalist Sang Ye follows his successful book Chinese Lives with this collection of absorbing interviews with twenty-six men, women, and children taking the reader into the complex realities of the People's Republic of China today. Through intimate conversations conducted over many years, China Candid provides an alternative history of the nation from its founding as a socialist state in 1949 up to the present. The voices of people who have lived under—and often despite—the Communist Party's rule give a compelling account of life in the maelstrom of China's economic reforms—reforms that are being pursued by a system that remains politically rigid and authoritarian. Artists, politicians, businessmen and -women, former Red Guards, migrant workers, prostitutes, teachers, computer geeks, hustlers, and other citizens of contemporary China all speak with frankness and candor about the realities of the burgeoning power of East Asia, the China that will host the 2008 Olympics. Some discuss the corrosive changes that have been wrought on the professional ethics and attitudes of men and women long nurtured by the socialist state. Others recall chilling encounters with the police, the law courts, labor camps, and the army. Providing unique insight into the minds and hearts of people who have firsthand experience of China's tumultuous history, this book adds invaluable depth and dimension to our understanding of this rapidly changing country.
China Candid The People on the People's Republic
About the Book
Reviews
“A wonderful collection of diverse interviews with men and women of differing ages and occupations that introduces us to an array of distinctive Chinese individuals trying to get along and make sense of the often confusing transformations swirling around them. When taken together, they provide a powerful and unforgettable sense of just how varied the experiences and viewpoints of contemporary residents of the People's Republic of China can be.”—Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom Christian Science Monitor
An invaluable glimpse into a baffling world.—New Statesman
Table of Contents
Sang Ye’s Conversations with China
Geremie R. Barmé
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Words and Saliva
Sang Ye
Chairman Mao’s Ark
1. A Hero for the Times: A Winner in the Economic Reforms
2. Chairman Mao’s Ark: One of the Floating Population
3. The Nondissident: A Party Man Betrayed
4. The Union Rep: A Worker against the Party
5. The People’s Deputy: A Congresswoman
Moonwalking
6. Looking Ahead: The Founders of a Private Orphanage
7. Getting Organized: The Parents of a Stolen Child
8. Shine: A Child Prodigy
9. Moonwalking: A Differently Abled Young Woman
Unlevel Playing Field
10. Consuming Habits: On the Flood of Fakes
11. Fringe-Dwellers: A Nonofficial Artist
12. The Computer Bug: The Software Pirate
13. Unlevel Playing Field: Confessions of an Elite Athlete
Heaven’s Narrow Gate
14. A Life of Sex: Dr Sex
15. Time as Money: A Shenzhen Hooker
16. Little Sweetie: A Thoroughly Modern Mistress
17. Heaven’s Narrow Gate: Christians Who Overcame
Mastering New China
18. An Army on the March: The PLA Means Business
19. Generating Income: The Reeducation of an English Professor
20. To the New World: Passport Protection
21. Mastering New China: A Capitalist with the Party’s Characteristics
22. Down to Earth: Reflections of a Former Red Guard
23. Just One Party: A Challenge from the Grass Roots Parting Shot
24. Beam Me Up: The UFOlogist
25. Parting Shot: A Beijing Executioner
26. Days in the Life of the People’s Republic
List of Translators
Index