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.

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.

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

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.

China's rapid economic expansion raises questions internally and externally about how it will acquire the energy it needs to sustain growth. Currently it is the largest producer and consumer of coal; how much will it continue to rely on its abundant natural resource in the face of increasing environmental concerns? Will it embrace new clean coal technologies developed by others or invest in its own? Currently it imports 50% of the oil it consumes; will it invest in technologies that scrub the ocean floor for petroleum deposits? Will it develop new distribution technologies to bring its natural gas reserves closer to population centers? What role will conservation play? And how will China relate to the rest of the international community as it addresses these critical issues. Research on Energy Issues In China presents one prominent insider's view of China's key energy issues and his strategy for addressing them. A collection of papers authored by Jiang Zemin, former president of the People's Republic of China, it appears here in English for the first time. Jiang's message is an exhortation to the Chinese to invest in science and technology, and research and development, to ensure the steady supply of energy so crucial for sustaining and driving development. He outlines this energy strategy for China: "we need to steadfastly conserve energy, use it efficiently, diversify development, keep the environment clean, be technology driven and cooperate internationally in order to establish a system of energy production, distribution and consumption that is highly efficient, uses advanced technology, produces few pollutant, has minimal impact on the ecosystem, and provides a steady and secure energy supply." Within ten to twenty years, China may well be the world's largest energy consumption and supply system. This volume offers policy makers, energy industry analysts, researchers, and investors an inside view of how it plans to get there. - Compares China's current energy situation with the developed world - Details specific challenges and opportunities in China with respect to coal, oil, nuclear, natural gas, solar, biomass, hydrogen, geothermal, wind, and ocean - Presents an eight point energy development policy - Provides a guide to China's future investment in research and development

This book offers a macro-historical analysis of the political reform process since the People's Republic of China adopted open door and reform policies in the late 1970s. This book attempts to examine the origin, process, and problems of the political reform in China in the Deng Xiaoping era.