Audiobook14 hours
The Man on Mao's Right: From Harvard Yard to Tiananmen Square, My Life Inside China's Foreign Ministry
Written by Ji Chaozhu
Narrated by Norman Dietz
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
No other narrative from within the corridors of power has offered as frank and intimate an account of the making of the modern Chinese nation as Ji Chaozhu's The Man on Mao's Right. Having served Chairman Mao Zedong and the Communist leadership for two decades, and having become a key figure in China's foreign policy, Ji now provides an honest, detailed account of the personalities and events that shaped today's People's Republic.
The youngest son of a prosperous government official, nine-year-old Ji and his family fled Japanese invaders in the late 1930s, escaping to America. Warmly received by his new country, Ji returned its embrace as he came of age in New York's East Village and then attended Harvard University. But in 1950, after years of enjoying a life of relative ease while his countrymen suffered through war and civil strife, Ji felt driven by patriotism to volunteer to serve China in its conflict with his adoptive country in the Korean War.
Ji's mastery of the English language and American culture launched his improbable career, eventually winning him the role of English interpreter for China's two top leaders: Premier Zhou Enlai and Party Chairman Mao Zedong. With a unique blend of Chinese insight and American candor, Ji paints insightful portraits of the architects of modern China: the urbane, practical, and avuncular Zhou, the conscience of the People's Republic; and the messianic, charismatic Mao, student of China's ancient past-his country's stern father figure.
Ji is an eyewitness to modern Chinese history, including the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, the Nixon summit, and numerous momentous events in Tiananmen Square. As he became caught up in political squabbles among radical factions, Ji's past and charges against him of "incorrect" thinking subjected him to scrutiny and suspicion. He was repeatedly sent to a collective farm to be "reeducated" by the peasants.
After the Mao years, Ji moved on to hold top diplomatic posts in the United States and the United Kingdom and then served as under-secretary-general of the United Nations. Today, he says, "The Chinese know America better than the Americans know China. The risk is that we misperceive each other." This highly accessible insider's chronicle of a struggling people within a developing powerhouse nation is also Ji Chaozhu's dramatic personal story, certain to fascinate and enlighten Western audiences.
The youngest son of a prosperous government official, nine-year-old Ji and his family fled Japanese invaders in the late 1930s, escaping to America. Warmly received by his new country, Ji returned its embrace as he came of age in New York's East Village and then attended Harvard University. But in 1950, after years of enjoying a life of relative ease while his countrymen suffered through war and civil strife, Ji felt driven by patriotism to volunteer to serve China in its conflict with his adoptive country in the Korean War.
Ji's mastery of the English language and American culture launched his improbable career, eventually winning him the role of English interpreter for China's two top leaders: Premier Zhou Enlai and Party Chairman Mao Zedong. With a unique blend of Chinese insight and American candor, Ji paints insightful portraits of the architects of modern China: the urbane, practical, and avuncular Zhou, the conscience of the People's Republic; and the messianic, charismatic Mao, student of China's ancient past-his country's stern father figure.
Ji is an eyewitness to modern Chinese history, including the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, the Nixon summit, and numerous momentous events in Tiananmen Square. As he became caught up in political squabbles among radical factions, Ji's past and charges against him of "incorrect" thinking subjected him to scrutiny and suspicion. He was repeatedly sent to a collective farm to be "reeducated" by the peasants.
After the Mao years, Ji moved on to hold top diplomatic posts in the United States and the United Kingdom and then served as under-secretary-general of the United Nations. Today, he says, "The Chinese know America better than the Americans know China. The risk is that we misperceive each other." This highly accessible insider's chronicle of a struggling people within a developing powerhouse nation is also Ji Chaozhu's dramatic personal story, certain to fascinate and enlighten Western audiences.
Related to The Man on Mao's Right
Related audiobooks
Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5China: A History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Long March: The True History of Communist China's Founding Myth Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Out of the Gobi: My Story of China and America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Nixon and Mao: The Week That Changed the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/51946: The Making of the Modern World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bullets and Opium: Real-Life Stories of China After the Tiananmen Square Massacre Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Notes From China Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5From Silk to Silicon: The Story of Globalization Through Ten Extraordinary Lives Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Invention of China Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Churchill's Empire: The World That Made Him and the World He Made Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pearl Buck in China: Journey to The Good Earth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom: America and China, 1776 to the Present Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Third Revolution: Xi Jinping and the New Chinese State Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Last Boat Out of Shanghai: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Fled Mao's Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Tragedy of Liberation: A History of the Chinese Revolution 1945-1957 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Year That Changed the World: The Untold Story Behind the Fall of the Berlin Wall Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Party: The Secret World of China's Communist Rulers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom: China, the West, and the Epic Story of the Taiping Civil War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Vietnam: A New History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The World Turned Upside Down: A History of the Chinese Cultural Revolution Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Out of Mao's Shadow: The Struggle for the Soul of a New China Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A World of Trouble: The White House and the Middle East---from the Cold War to the War on Terror Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5No Wall Too High: One Man's Daring Escape from Mao's Darkest Prison Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Asia's Cauldron: The South China Sea and the End of a Stable Pacific Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Road to Disaster: A New History of America’s Descent into Vietnam Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tombstone: The Great Chinese Famine, 1958-1962 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Gandhi & Churchill: The Epic Rivalry That Destroyed an Empire and Forged Our Age Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5End of an Era: How China's Authoritarian Revival is Undermining Its Rise Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Biography & Memoir For You
Twisted Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5If He Had Been with Me Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Child Called It: One Child's Courage to Survive Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House in the Cerulean Sea Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Divine Rivals: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5From Blood and Ash Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5And Then There Were None Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When No One Is Watching: A Thriller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fairy Tale Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Dead Zone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bell Jar Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Local Woman Missing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Paris Apartment: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5See You on the Way Down: Catch You on the Way Back Up! Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Series of Unfortunate Events #1 Multi-Voice, A: The Bad Beginning Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sorry I'm Late, I Didn't Want to Come: One Introvert's Year of Saying Yes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Later Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Overstory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nothing to See Here Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In Five Years: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World--and Why Things Are Better Than You Think Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Elon Musk Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Year of Magical Thinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dutch House: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for The Man on Mao's Right
Rating: 4.333333333333333 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
6 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The man on Mao's right. From Harvard Yard to Tiananmen Square, my life inside China's Foreign Ministry by the Chinese author Ji Chaozhu 冀朝铸 has remarkably few readers on LibraryThing; only about 30 to date, nearly eight years since its publication in 2008.That was the year of the Beijing Olympic Games, a time presumably many people would be interested to pick up a book about China. The title of the book refers to the author, shown on the cover standing to Mao's right, a somewhat enigmatic title, of course. The subtitle is long and complicated From Harvard Yard to Tiananmen Square, my life inside China's Foreign MinistryMr Ji Chaozhu is of course a rather insignificant figure, not a politician but an interpreter wo served Chinese political leaders for several decades. However, Mr Ji was mostly employed and enjoyed the protection of Prime Minister Zhou Enlai while he only occasionally interpreted for the Great Helmsman, Mao Zedong. Nonetheless, his position gave him a unique perspective, as he could not only observe the unfolding of Chinese contemporary history, but see it from the rostrum of the Meridian Gate, right next to the men who made history.Although the author largely received protection from China's Prime Minister, he did not escape hardship and suffered greatly during the Cultural Revolution, as he was sent to the countryside for reform through labour with the peasants.The man on Mao's right is very well-written, and mainly a factual account of Chinese modern history. It describes many of the well-known episodes with great detail, and probably more accuracy than many western authors who tend to exaggerate and speculate more. Mr Ji Chaozhu is never really critical or hostile to the Chinese leadership, but neither tries to cover things up.Before publication by Random House, The man on Mao's right was published in two earlier, presumably different editions in China. These editions sold very well, although it is not explained in which was those Chinese editions were (if so) different from the current edition.For readers with an interest in Chinese contemporary history, particularly the period from 1949 till 1980, The man on Mao's right. From Harvard Yard to Tiananmen Square, my life inside China's Foreign Ministry is warmly recommended. The subtitle of the book quite incorrectly suggests that the book would describe Chinese history up till 1989, whereas there is just a short coda describing the authors career as an ambassador after 1982.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Interesting memoirs of a man who survived many years of the turmoils of being in China's leadership. Good stories and lessons throughout. "Survival diplomacy", as he says, is required in these circumstances.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5It was very interesting to read about so many facets of China's history and political strife from an insider such as Ji Chaozhu.