China Rising: The Meaning of Tiananmen [Hardcover]

Lee Feigon (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0929587308 | ISBN-13: 978-0929587301 | Publication Date: March 1, 1990 | Edition: 1St Edition

This is the first authoritative account of the Chinese student movement for democracy which ended in the massacre in Tiananmen Square in the spring of 1989. Unlike many others, Lee Feigon’s book is history, not journalism. He blends his knowledge as a scholar of Chinese history with his eyewitness experiences in China to produce a clear, penetrating interpretation of events for the American reader. Mr. Feigon sets the Beijing Spring in perspective, tracing the history of student protest over the centuries, analyzing Chinese politics and personalities, and showing how social and economic changes in the 1980s brought the student movement to a head. He uncovers the close connection between student organizers and high-level members of the Chinese Communist party, and he corrects the American image of such Chinese leaders as Deng Xiaoping—not at all a Chinese Gorbachev, in Mr. Feigon’s view, but rather a clever and ruthless autocrat. China Rising is an exceptional book about an important moment in world history.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Feigon, director of East Asian studies at Colby College in Maine, who was living in Beijing during the Tiananmen Square massacre, here provides a richly informative if controversial eyewitness account of the student movement and its brutal suppression. Tracing other student movements in Chinese history, he shows that they have invariably proved counterproductive: "Each of their protest movements has created a new organization just as inimical to student ideas as the one they helped destroy." In the 1989 struggle, argues Feigon, students were more occupied establishing that they were not counterrevolutionaries than in planning how to reform the Communist party. The author's harsh judgment will startle readers.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

A compelling account of a city full of rumors, excitement, and fear. (William Winans San Francisco Chronicle )

Vivid...right on the mark. (Dori Jones Yang Business Week )

By far the best treatment of the episode that I have seen. (Nicholas R. Clifford Commonwealth )

Closely packed, forthright, and clearly written...a highly convincing explanation of the social and economic roots of the political crisis. (Benton, Gregor China Quarterly )

Feigon tells a story that combines both historical perspective with a personal eyewitness account...sure to enrich the understanding of the specialist in comparative politics as well as of the China expert. (Allen S. Whiting Political Science Quarterly )

An absorbing and meticulous account. (Jonathan Spence Yale University )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Ivan R Dee; 1St Edition edition (March 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0929587308
• ISBN-13: 978-0929587301
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,866,409 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book on Tiananmen Square!, November 15, 2010

By 

Rick S. (ambler, PA United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: China Rising: The Meaning of Tiananmen (Hardcover)

This is an excellent book on the 1989 Tiananmen Square incident. Feigon's book provides an in-depth analysis behind the student's movement and the government's crackdown of the rapidly-escating protests. The only thing I wish the book had was a COMPLETE chronology of the protests, and not just up to the death of Hu Yaobang. Other than that, this is an excellent book on the Tiananmen Square protests.