AHistory TodayBook of the Year 2024
On a freezing January afternoon in 1992, Deng Xiaoping, China's former paramount leader and now a revered elder statesman, set off on a month long trip around China's south in defence of the reforms he had set in motion to open up China's economy and transform the country into the political and economic powerhouse we know today.
In this book Jonathan Chatwin pursues the story of Deng's legendary Southern Tour and examines its legacies in the country today. Chatwin recounts the crucial debates and disagreements that characterised Chinese politics in the aftermath of the brutal crackdown of the Tiananmen protests of 1989, and the decisive influence of Deng's journey in establishing an economic blueprint for the 1990s and beyond. He explores a nation which has been transformed by large-scale urbanisation - exemplified by the mega-cities of southern China that Deng visited and endorsed - but whose leadership is now conflicted by the pursuit of wealth that Deng legitimized. Drawing on historical and contemporary eyewitness accounts, and the author's own 3000 mile journey in Deng's footsteps,The Southern Tourbrings to life the story of China's transformation into a 21st-century superpower.
Jonathan Chatwinis a non-fiction writer and journalist. His work has appeared in
CNN,the
South China Morning Postand the BBC. He is the author of
Long Peace Street: A Walk in Modern China(MUP, 2019) and
Anywhere Out of the World: The Work of Bruce Chatwin(MUP, 2012).
Elegant and evocative. History Today
Chatwin's book takes you into the world of one of the most epic and consequential ideological battles of the late 20th century. On the other side of it emerged the China of today - but it might not have been that way, and many worry that Deng's vision for Asia's giant could yet be reversed. Stephen McDonell, BBC China Correspondent
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![The Southern Tour: Deng Xiaoping and the Fight for China's Future [Paperback]](/itemImage/2/7/9/4/2_7199395.jpg "The Southern Tour: Deng Xiaoping and the Fight for China's Future [Paperback]")