China's Deep Reform: Domestic Politics in Transition by Lowell Dittmer; Guoli LiuReview by: Lucian W. PyeForeign Affairs, Vol. 85, No. 6 (Nov. - Dec., 2006), pp. 177-178Published by: Council on Foreign RelationsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20032195 .

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Mao and the Economic Stalinization of China, 1948-1953. BY HUA-YU LI. Rowman &

Littlefield, 2006, 266 pp. $75.oo. During its rise to power, the Chinese Communist Party often seemed to cham pion liberal values and spoke of building a "New Democracy." But then, in 1953,

Mao Zedong made a 18o-degree turn and declared the "general line" to be the "transition to socialism." Hard-line communist rhetoric became dominant, and every policy had to meet the test of ideological purity; Mao the pragmatist was replaced by Mao the obsessed ideologue.

Li has gone to great effort to uncover the story of this change, and her research into the years immediately after the ccp came to power shows that Sino-Soviet relations were far more complex than

Western opinion imagined at the time. Stalin thought the Chinese were not sufficiently developed to start a socialist revolution, whereas Mao suspected that Stalin was trying to hold China back. Li concludes that "Mao was paradoxically both a disciple and a rival of Stalin." It was only after Stalin died that Mao was free to advance his belief in the importance of disciplined ideology.

China's Deep Reform: Domestic Politics in Transition. EDITED BY LOWELL

DITTMER AND GUOLI LIU. Rowman

& Littlefield, 2oo6, 532 pp. $89.oo (paper, $34.95).

This impressive anthology presents a selection of articles on China's post-Mao reforms, which together offer a detailed analysis of their political and economic effects both in China and abroad. Elite politics became more open and aboveboard, while the economy was opened up to foreign investment and trade (although

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Recent Books

there has been relatively little progress on implementing the rule of law). The authors here, anxious to stress the latest developments, somewhat overemphasize positive and underreport negative ones. Yet there is no denying that they are broadly correct in speaking of China's "deep reforms"-reforms that have altered the basic structures of institutions and fundamental cultural norms. Certainly, post-reform China is a much happier place to live and work than Mao's China ever was.

The King Never Smiles:A Biography of Thailand's BhumibolAdulyadej. BY PAUL M. HAN DLEY. Yale University

Press, 2006, 512 pp. $38.oo.

The king of Thailand was born in Boston while his father was studying at Harvard. He was educated in Switzerland. When his uncle abdicated, his older brother ascended to the throne, but the brother was mysteriously shot dead. (The unsolved mystery has led to all manner of specula tion; the palace maintains that it was an accident.) And so in 1946, Bhumibol, at the age of 18, became the king of Thailand.

Handley, a journalist who has spent 20 years in Asia, including 13 in Thailand, has taken on the challenging task of writing a biography of Bhumibol-challenging in that if he is too critical, his work will be seen as a lese majesty, and if he is not critical enough, he will be accused of shilling for the royal family. His account does not present the glossy picture of Bhumibol that a Thai monarchist would indeed, he criticizes the king for not being a more open champion of democratic reforms-but he argues that Bhumibol has used his royal authority to contain the numerous military strongmen who

have dominated Thai politics in the past. Interestingly, as Thai politics become more open, Handley notes, the king may become even more influential, for the Thai people seem to treat him as a sort of living Buddha.

Racefor the Exits: The Unraveling ofJapan's System of SocialProtection. BY LEONARD J. SCHOPPA. Cornell

University Press, 2006, 247 pp. $39.95. For most of the post-World War II era, Japan's economy and welfare system were the envy of much of the world. But in the 1990s, things began to unravel: the econ omy stalled, and Japanese social-security programs suddenly appeared inadequate. Japan's unique system of "convoy capitalism" came to seem outdated, the promise of "life-time" employment was no longer a solid one, and the growing gap between rich and poor suggested that Japan was becoming a heartless society. A populace that had come to expect annual economic growth between six and nine percent was confronted with a one percent growth rate. Schoppa examines howJapanese companies and governments responded to the crisis by using Albert Hirschman's model of"exit, voice, and loyalty." He acknowledges that it is too early to say whether as a result of these negative developments Japan will experience fundamental reforms. In the

meantime, however, what is striking is how unemotional the Japanese have been in accepting their national economic problems: "voice" has not taken the form of calls for revolutionary change, and a degree of "exit" from politics has not shaken the political system. Schoppa also deals in some detail with the decline in fertility rates, as Japanese women have started working more outside the home a break with tradition that may do more

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