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| Out of Mao's Shadow: The Struggle for the Soul of a New China | 
 enlarge | Author: Philip P. Pan
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Category: Book
List Price: $28.00
Buy New: $15.52
You Save: $12.48 (45%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (18 reviews)
Sales Rank: 16955
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.2 x 1.3
ISBN: 1416537058
Dewey Decimal Number: 306.2095109045
EAN: 9781416537052
ASIN: 1416537058
Publication Date: June 17, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
Out of Mao's Shadow September 24, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
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.
 casting light on a shadow. September 19, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
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.
 Not as impartial / insightful as I had hoped September 11, 2008
6 out of 11 found this review helpful
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.
An eye-opener for a Western reader interested in China September 2, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
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?".
 A Chinese "Jook-Sing" from America critques China's political system through his biased Europeanized-Western lenses August 23, 2008
11 out of 56 found this review helpful
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.
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