Produktdetaljer
Biografisk notat
Ian Buruma is the Henry R. Luce Professor of Human Rights and Journalism at Bard College in New York state. His previous books include God's Dust, The Wages of Guilt, Anglomania and Murder in Amsterdam, which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Best Current Interest Book and was shortlisted for The Samuel Johnson Prize. He was the recipient of the 2008 Shorenstein Journalism Award, which honoured him for his distinguished body of work, and the 2008 Erasmus Prize.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.
'Ian Buruma is a man to read with interest, profit and care... He suceeds triumphantly in demonstrating that "the Chinese... are not utterly unlike us, whoever we may be, and that freedom from torture, persecution, and spiritual and intellectual coercion is a common desire among all humna beings and not merely a Western notion".' Chris Patten, The Times
In Bad Elements, Ian Buruma goes behind conventional news-stories of economic growth, megacities and the Olympic Games, to see today's China through the stories of its dissidents: ordinary, brave people who oppose a regime that uses repression in the name of social order. He travels through the US, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and the People's Republic, to tell the stories of the rebels who dare to stand up to their rulers. 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.
Panoramic and intimate, disturbing and inspiring, Bad Elements is a profound meditation on the themes of national identity and political struggle. It is a relevant and timely account of China at street level.
'The tales of courage, sacrifice and integrity in Buruma's book are inspiring. He has done an excellent job of tracking down former Chinese dissidents, not only those from Tiananmen Square but other rebels who have suffered persecution in Taiwan and Singapore.' Nick Rufford, Sunday Times
'China is on the move, Ian Buruma is a leading writer on Asia, and his is an important book... A pungent book about the lack of democracy in Asia.' George Walden, Sunday Telegraph
'A judicious, sparklingly readable book.' Terry Eagleton, Irish Times