''China Wakes: The Struggle for the Soul of a Rising Power'' is a 1994 book by husband-and-wife

Nicholas D. Kristof Nicholas Donabet Kristof (born April 27, 1959) is an American journalist and political commentator. A winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, he is a regular CNN contributor and an op-ed columnist for ''The New York Times''. Born in Chicago, Kristof wa ...

and

Sheryl WuDunn Sheryl WuDunn (born November 16, 1959) is an American business executive, writer, lecturer, and Pulitzer Prize winner. A senior banker focusing on growth companies in technology, new media and the emerging markets, WuDunn also works with double ...

, based on their tour in China as reporters for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

''. They were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for their reporting.

Summary

In this book, Kristof and WuDunn, husband and wife, wrote about their experiences in China from 1988 to 1993. The couple spent five years in China as journalists reporting for ''The New York Times''. For a time, WuDunn worked and traveled around China as a tourist after her press credentials had been revoked by the

Chinese Foreign Ministry The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China () is the first-ranked executive department of the State Council of the Chinese government, responsible for the foreign relations of the People's Republic of China. It is led ...

on a technicality. The authors present alternating chapters with Kristof writing the odd-numbered chapters and WuDunn writing the even-numbered chapters. Only the last chapter of the book was written by both authors. Kristoff and WuDunn cover various topics such as the lives of Chinese peasants, corruption, sex, religion, the

one-child policy The term one-child policy () refers to a population planning initiative in China implemented between 1980 and 2015 to curb the country's population growth by restricting many families to a single child. That initiative was part of a much br ...

, the

Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 The Tiananmen Square protests, known in Chinese as the June Fourth Incident (), were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square, Beijing during 1989. In what is known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, or in Chinese the June Fourth ...

(Democracy movement and government crackdown), and the future of the

Communist party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

. The two journalists are assisted by local Chinese friends, anonymous sources, and Communist officials in researching stories for ''The New York Times''. In the Author's Note it is stated that the names of some Chinese sources have been changed for their protection, while the names of corrupt Communist officials have been left uncensored. The authors' view of China is that of a country torn between

Deng Xiaoping Deng Xiaoping (22 August 1904 – 19 February 1997) was a Chinese revolutionary leader, military commander and statesman who served as the paramount leader of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from December 1978 to November 1989. After CCP ...

's successful economic strategy and frustrated political reform and human rights.

Reception

Matei P. Mihalca writing in China Review International praised the book as "well-written, though relatively standard, survey," which, "after an excellent introductory essay," settles on "investigating familiar topics."

Ian Buruma Ian Buruma (born December 28, 1951) is a Dutch writer and editor who lives and works in the United States. In 2017, he became editor of ''The New York Review of Books'', but left the position in September 2018. Much of his writing has focused on ...

's review in ''The New York Times'' noted that the authors did not attempt to predict China's future. "Instead," he says, "they tell us what they saw, and thought," and "what they saw, is, on the whole, more interesting than what they thought. The merit of their book lies in the anecdotes, in the descriptions of various people the authors met and got to know."Buruma 1994.

References

{{reflist

External links

''Booknotes'' interview with Kristoff and WuDunn on ''China Wakes'', October 16, 1994.
* Ian Buruma, "In the Land of Market-Leninism," ''New York Times'

* Matei P. Mihalca. "China Wakes: The Struggle for the Soul of a Rising Power, and: Chinese Awakenings: Life Stories from the Unofficial China (review)." ''China Review International''

Project MUSE
* Matei Mihalca, "China Wakes: The Struggle for the Soul of a Rising Power. by Nicholas D. Kristof; Sheryl WuDunn; Mandate of Heaven: A New Generation of Entrepreneurs, Dissidents, Bohemians, and Technocrats Lays Claim to China's Future. by Orville Schell," ''The China Journal'' No. 34 (Jul., 1995), pp. 280–28

1994 non-fiction books Books about the People's Republic of China