Simon & Schuster
September 2, 1994
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The China of the 1990s is a country of profound contradictions: Maoist ideology coexists with an entrepreneurial spirit that has made China one of the world’s economic powerhouses; a rebellious, irreverent popular culture thrives in the shadow of a totalitarian political system; a nihilistic subculture coexists alongside ancient traditions of obedience, conformity, and respect for tradition.
In “Mandate of Heaven” Orville Schell, one of America’s foremost China specialists, interprets these conflicting developments and brilliantly documents the new power structures, economic initiatives, and cultural changes that have transformed China since the Tiananmen Square demonstrations of 1989. Schell takes readers on a series of journeys inside this latter-day People’s Republic and introduces us to a broad spectrum of people, from students and workers to entrepreneurs, pop stars, and party officials, who, although they acted out the drama of the Square, are now playing the prominent roles in China’s high-speed economic rush into the future.
As China’s role on the world stage grows, it becomes increasingly important that the West acquaint itself with the people who will be leading it into the twenty-first century. “Mandate of Heaven” is the authoritative and definitive account of this generation as it moves into a capitalist economic future while still clinging to the structures of its communist past.