The New Emperors: Power and the Princelings in China

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hina has become the powerhouse of the world economy and home to 1 in 5 of the world’s population, yet we know almost nothing of the people who lead it. In The New Emperors, the noted China expert Kerry Brown journeys deep into the heart of the Communist Party. China’s system might have its roots in peasant rebellion but it is now firmly under the control of a power-conscious Beijing elite, almost half of whose members are related directly to former senior Party leaders. Brown reveals the intrigue, scandal and murder surrounding the internal battle raging between two Chinas: one founded by Mao on Communist principles, and a modern China in which ‘to get rich is glorious’. At the centre of it all sits the latest Party Secretary, Xi Jinping – the son of a revolutionary, with links both to big business and to the People’s Liberation Army. His rise to power is symbolic of the new emperors leading the world’s next superpower.

erry Brown is the Director of the China Studies Centre at the University of Sydney and former head of the Asia Programme at Chatham House. With 20 years’ experience of life in China, he has worked in education, business and government, including a term as First Secretary at the British Embassy in Beijing. He is the author of Contemporary China (2013), Friends and Enemies: The Past, Present and Future of the Communist Party of China (with Will Hutton, 2009) and Struggling Giant: China in the 21st Century (with Jonathan Fenby, 2007). He also writes regularly for the Times Literary Supplement and the Guardian, amongst others.

ISBN 978-1-78076-910-3

9 781780 769103

cover images: Six members of the Central Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China; illustrations by Namkwan Cho. jacket design: Namkwan Cho | www.nam-design.co.uk

TheNewEmporers jacket.indd 1

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21/04/2014 18:47


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The New Emperors: Power and the Princelings in China by I.B.Tauris - Issuu