An analysis of the evolution of China's leader, Jiang Zemin, taking as its starting point the pivotal 15th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. It details the personalities and platforms that have been contending for control and the strategies used by Jiang to consolidate his position.

This pathbreaking book is the first full-length study of the rise to power of Jiang Zemin, now the central figure in China's "third generation" of leaders. Tracing Jiang's beginnings as a student in the underground Communist movement in Shanghai through his appointment by Deng Xiaoping as party general secretary and his sudden elevation to central authority in the wake of the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre in Beijing, Bruce Gilley offers a fascinating and highly readable look at how Jiang Zemin has secured his position as one of the world's most powerful figures. Gilley follows Jiang's life and career from his early years as the adopted son of a revolutionary martyr, through his training in Western science and engineering, to his emergence as what many believed would be an interim figurehead in the wake of Tiananmen. Gilley shows how Jiang instead persisted as China's key leader following the death of Deng Xiaoping: While he shared the concerns of the last of the Party elders—including their idealistic views of Chinese socialism—he also accommodated the younger generation of economic reformers who have helped China to achieve staggering growth in its domestic economy and foreign trade. Gilley's analysis of the careful and methodical transition of power from Deng to Jiang during the 1990s is a remarkable study in complexity and contrast, clearly illustrating Jiang's ability to either placate his allies and adversaries or ruthlessly exploit their weaknesses. Based on first-hand interviews and primary documents as well as a variety of mainland Chinese and international media sources, Tiger on the Brink is an unprecedented and immensely revealing look into the highest echelons of Chinese politics on the eve of the twenty-first century, and will be of interest to anyone concerned with the world's most populous nation and its newest emerging superpower.

Jiang Zemin’s life and leadership sweep through almost eighty tumultuous years of Chinese history: Japanese occupation, Civil War, Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution, Tiananmen Square, and, more recently, dramatic economic growth, tensions with Taiwan, and opportunities and confrontations with America. Jiang’s story is an epic of war, deprivation, revolution, political turmoil, social convulsion, economic reform, national transformation, and international resurgence. To Robert Lawrence Kuhn, a longtime China observer, understanding the legacy of Jiang Zemin is essential for understanding the challenges of contemporary China. By examining Jiang’s life, we observe the clash between China’s traditional culture and chaotic history, and we appreciate how its changes impact the entire world. InThe Man Who Changed China, Kuhn, who was cited by the AsianWall Street Journalfor the “unprecedented access” he was given in the course of writing this book, has produced what the Journal called “probably the closest thing to an authorized biography that’s possible in Communist China.” Here a reader will find a complex and nuanced portrait of China’s senior leader, whose policies continue to exert great influence over the course of his country. Kuhn offers insight into how the Japanese occupation during Jiang’s teenage years imprinted his psyche for life, how he became a Communist, and how, decades later, he struggled to transform the Party in the face of withering criticism. In a sense, Kuhn argues, Jiang’s early skeptics got it right: He was a transitional figure—but not in the way they had meant. With unshakable if paternalistic vision, a lifelong love of Chinese civilization, and backroom political skills that no one had anticipated, Jiang Zemin became an unexpected agent of change, effecting the transition from a traumatized society to a confident, prosperous country rapidly ascending in the new world order. Kuhn shows how Jiang led China through an amazing metamorphosis—from a fretful country destabilized by the turmoil and crackdown in Tiananmen Square into a vibrant nation that became a primary engine of global economic growth. Above all Jiang is a Chinese patriot—and it is important to appreciate what that really means. In offering this unusually intimate and comprehensive personal and political biography, Kuhn demonstrates that Jiang Zemin’s life personifies the history of contemporary China, giving invaluable insight into what China is today and will become in the future.

Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China over 70 years ago, five paramount leaders have shaped the fates and fortunes of the nation and the ruling Chinese Communist Party: Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao, and Xi Jinping. Under their leaderships, China has undergone an extraordinary transformation from an undeveloped and insular country to a comprehensive world power. In this definitive study, renowned Sinologist David Shambaugh offers a refreshing account of China’s dramatic post-revolutionary history through the prism of those who ruled it. Exploring the persona, formative socialization, psychology, and professional experiences of each leader, Shambaugh shows how their differing leadership styles and tactics of rule shaped China domestically and internationally: Mao was a populist tyrant, Deng a pragmatic Leninist, Jiang a bureaucratic politician, Hu a technocratic apparatchik, and Xi a modern emperor. Covering the full scope of these leaders’ personalities and power, this is an illuminating guide to China’s modern history and understanding how China has become the superpower of today.

The first major scholarly analysis of China under Jiang Zemin and the "third generation" of postrevolutionary leaders.

Jiang Zemin was appointed to head the Chinese Communist Party after the Tiananmen Square massacre. Jiang was handpicked in 1989 by then-paramount leader Deng Xiaoping to lead the party after the bloody crackdown. During Jiang's tenure, China harnessed capitalism to become a global economic player. Critics say Jiang's policies concentrated on economic liberalization and globalization. Jiang Zemin was born August 17, 1926, in Yangzhou, an old Yangtze River city northwest of Shanghai. His father was an accountant in an electric power firm and a ferry company; his mother hailed from an agricultural family. Jiang joined the Communist Party in 1946 in Shanghai, studied electrical engineering and mastered English. Mr. Jiang wooed international investors, hosted the chief executives of multinational corporations at Zhongnanhai, the Chinese leadership complex in Beijing. Zhu Rongji, his successor as prime minister, became the point man for Deng Xiaoping's market reform. Mr. Jiang wooed international investors, hosting the chief executives of multinational corporations at Zhongnanhai, the Chinese leadership complex in Beijing.

In the early 1980’s, Jiang Zemin, then Minister of Electronics Ministry of China, assessed the IT industry as ‘the strategic high ground in international competition.’ He "perceived the discrepancy between China’s level and the world's advanced level was so great that we had to do our utmost to catch up." Since then through numerous articles and frequent speeches he has drawn up a detailed technological and policy roadmap for doing exactly that. This volume collects over 25 pieces written over more than 20 years. It demonstrates the former president of China’s authority and insight into the development of China’s IT industry since the introduction of reforms, and the cutting-edge issues experienced throughout the global IT industry. Jiang’s ambitious goal is the transformation of China into a leader in the global IT industry by 2020. This volume offers IT industry analysts, China watchers, policy makers and advisors, IT researchers, and investors a singular and authoritative view on how China should get there. Establishes key measurements for the development of China’s IT industry Sets forth the priorities for government and industry Identifies opportunities for interrelating military and civilian R&D and applications Reveals key obstacles to progress and directives for overcoming them Sets out an R&D agenda for industry Names the core industry sectors for government and industry investment Identifies opportunities and the necessity for international collaboration Establishes the need to develop China’s own IPR and to respect and protect others’ IPR