"Tepid and fawning": a book review of Kuhn's Jiang Zemin biography

by an Amazon reader, Seth Faison, who was the Shanghai Bureau Chief of the New York Times from 1995 to 2000.

http://www.amazon.com/Man-Who-Changed-China-Legacy/dp/1400054745

Oct. 16, 2005

In China, the 1990s brought sizzling economic growth, cool political stability and a steady expansion of personal freedom for urban residents. Shanghai, Beijing and other cities became modern and cosmopolitan. Peace reigned on all borders. Was it brilliant leadership that won these triumphs for China? Or was it a combination of circumstances, only mildly affected by the man in charge at the time, Jiang Zemin?

In a new biography of Jiang, Robert Lawrence Kuhn tries to credit the former Communist Party chief with a primary role in China's advances. Yet by telling Jiang's story in detail, Kuhn's book reveals Jiang to be an above-average Party official, most skilled in the art of pleasing his superiors, whose great feat was simply political survival. The title of the book is `The Man Who Changed China.' But Jiang did not change China in any significant way. He climbed into the driver's seat at a time when the steering wheel was held by others. Only after years as Communist Party chief did Jiang assume real power, and once he had it, he showed no special flair for leadership. He just kept driving on the road laid out for him by Deng Xiaoping.

How Jiang rose - from his first job fixing machines at a Shanghai ice cream company through a series of middling administrative positions to become Mayor of Shanghai and then China's Communist Party chief - certainly is a good tale. Jiang was born into an educated family in Yangzhou, north of Shanghai. His uncle was a Communist revolutionary who died in battle, giving Jiang an important credential for future leadership. Trained as an engineer, Jiang was known as a big reader with a good memory and a talent for making friends. At Jiang's first job, in the ice cream company, he was on hand when a Party official named Wang Daohan came to visit on day in September, 1949. Jiang gave a presentation and a factory tour, and impressed Wang with his energy and optimism. Wang eventually decided to take Jiang under his wing, and over the next 40 years, he nurtured Jiang's rise by winning him jobs in Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan, and Changchun.

Jiang was an intelligent but cautious administrator. He had no special charisma. As Kuhn reports, he was frequently underestimated. Meaning, he often came across as a lightweight. But over time he would prosper, primarily by diligent work and an ability to offend no one. He survived the Cultural Revolution and other political campaigns by keeping his head down.Kuhn's book is thorough. He recites a month-by-month summary of Jiang's years in power, often including details about the leader's taste for reciting poetry or the Gettysburg address, and singing songs. Jiang loved to perform, and to show off.

For anyone who needs a compendium of Jiang's public appearances and political acts during those years, this is an excellent guide. Readers looking for real insight into Chinese politics will be disappointed. One strength of Kuhn's book is the access he gained, interviewing Jiang's sister and several of his close aides, including Wang Daohan. They offer intriguing personal anecdotes that inevitably show what a wise and thoughtful man Jiang has been. Kuhn's book is weakest where it counts most. At Jiang's critical moments - the Tiananmen protests and crackdown in 1989 that led to his ascension, the demise of political rivals Yang Shangkun and Chen Xitong - Kuhn offers little insight or fresh information.

Most annoying is Kuhn's tendency to repeat Communist pablum as though it were anything beyond a Party line, such as Jiang's `core beliefs' in socialism and Party control, obviously a prerequisite to any government position. Kuhn, an advisor to the Chinese government as well as host of a PBS television series, sometimes writes like an American businessman freshly introduced to the vast potential of the China market: breathless, overly credulous, and looking for opportunity. Yet Kuhn's approach to Jiang's story - getting every detail - generally yields a basic accuracy to major trends and events. For instance, Kuhn describes the decision in 1992 to accelerate economic growth that led to China's broad flourishing over the following decade.

It was a decision made by Deng Xiaoping, and at first resisted by Jiang and other leaders, who feared that it would lead to inflation and social unrest. True to his nature, Jiang saw that it was in his interest to follow, and then champion, Deng's views. But it was Deng who insisted on moving faster. He was the man who truly changed China. Not Jiang.