Tiger on the Brink Jiang Zemin and China s New Elite

"Tiger on the Brink" is the first full-length study of the rise to power of Jiang Zemin -- now the central figure in China's new 'third generation' leadership -- from his beginnings as the adopted son of a revolutionary martyr and his days as a student in the underground Communist movement in Shanghai to his sudden elevation as Deng Xiaoping's successor in the wake of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre and his confirmation as senior leader after Deng's death. Though many dismissed Jiang as an interim figurehead after Tiananmen, in fact he played a crucial role in bringing China back from the brink of social collapse. Gilley shows how Jiang shared both the concerns of the last of the Party elders, including their idealistic views of Chinese socialism, as well as the outlook of the younger generation of reformers who have helped China to achieve its astounding economic growth in recent years.