Bad Elements

Chinese Rebels from Los Angeles to Beijing

Ian Buruma author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Atlantic Books

Published:1st Jun '09

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Bad Elements cover

Ian Buruma approaches China through the stories of its dissidents: ordinary, brave people who oppose a regime that uses repression in the name of social order. What does dissidence mean in an authoritarian society? And what chance do they have of succeeding in the face of the largest remaining dictatorship on earth?

Who speaks for China? Is it the old men of the politburo or activists like Wei Jingshsheng, who spent eighteen years in prison for writing a emocratic manifesto? Is China's future to be fund amid the boisterous sleaze of an electoral cmpaign in Taiwan, or in the manoeuvres by which ordinary residents of Beijing quietly resist the authority of the state?

These are among the questions that Ian Buruma poses in this enlightening and often moving tour of Chinese dissidence. Travelling through the U.S., Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and the People's Republic, Ian Buruma tells the stories of Chinese rebels who dare to stand up to their rulers, exploring their chances of success in the face of the most powerful dictatorship on earth. From the exiles of Tiananmen to the hidden Christians of rural China, he brings alive the human dimension to their struggles and reveals the world's most secretive superpower through the eyes of its dissidents.

ISBN: 9781843549635

Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 31mm

Weight: 399g

384 pages

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