Political Leaders of Modern China: A Biographical Dictionary

The most authoritative, comprehensive, and up-to-date coverage of modern Chinese political leadership, written by experts in the field using both Western and Chinese sources. One hundred Chinese leaders–from the Opium War to 2001–are profiled in this comprehensive biographical dictionary. Leung provides the most up-to-date coverage of modern Chinese political leadership during the Imperial, Republican, and Communist periods. Politcal leaders throughout each period had a common desire for reform within the country while maintaining China’s political and cultural legacy. China needed to change, but she always needed to stay Chinese. Leung invokes the uniqueness of Chinese political leaders in their struggle for personal gain and improvement for China as a country, while preserving traditional values. Written by thirty international scholars and experts in the field using both Western and Chinese sources, this is the most authoritative dictionary on the subject. Through the individual characteristics of China’s political leaders, a nation-building process began. Chinese leaders fell into two categories of reformers: conservative and liberal. Conservative reformers saw a corruption of the moral order of society that needed to be eliminated to take China back to her moral integrity, while liberal reformers tried embracing the flaws and taking China forward to Socialism. Leung provides the reader with explicit entries detailing China’s rise as a world power through the strength of her leaders.