{"id":121274,"date":"2011-05-23T14:34:00","date_gmt":"2011-05-23T21:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=121274"},"modified":"2011-05-23T15:02:31","modified_gmt":"2011-05-23T22:02:31","slug":"jonathan-spence-kissinger-and-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2011\/05\/jonathan-spence-kissinger-and-china\/","title":{"rendered":"Jonathan Spence: Kissinger and China"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the New York Review of Books, Jonathan Spence, Sterling Professor of History Emeritus at Yale University, reviews Henry Kissinger’s new book<\/strong><\/a>, On China<\/a>\"\":<\/p>\n

\nIt is hard to fit Henry Kissinger\u2019s latest book, On China, into any conventional frame or genre. Partly that is because the somewhat self-deprecatory title conceals what is, in fact, an ambitious goal: to make sense of China\u2019s diplomacy and foreign policies across two and a half millennia, and to bring China\u2019s past full circle in order to illuminate the present. In form, the book is highly idiosyncratic, for it is not exactly a memoir, or a monograph, or an autobiography; rather it is part reminiscence, part reflection, part history, and part intuitive exploration.<\/p>\n

To borrow a current phrase, it is a \u201chybrid vehicle,\u201d and a more accurate title, it seems to me, would have been something like Variations on a Theme in China. If we keep that in mind as a working subtitle, then we can see how the book follows six sequential themes: China\u2019s early history, China\u2019s inadequate attempts to modify the imperial system of the later dynasties, the formative years of Maoist consolidation, Kissinger\u2019s own experiences while orchestrating President Nixon\u2019s 1972 China visit, China\u2019s later cycles of \u201copening up\u201d and repression under Deng Xiaoping, and a surprise final section that ingeniously links pre\u2013World War I British and German expansion to some of the current problems facing the United States and China today.<\/p>\n

For Henry Kissinger, ancient China was a subtle place. That in turn led to its special resonance in the present: \u201cIn no other country,\u201d he writes, \u201cis it conceivable that a modern leader would initiate a major national undertaking by invoking strategic principles from a millennium-old event,\u201d as Mao often did in discussing policy matters. And Mao \u201ccould confidently expect his colleagues to understand the significance of his allusions.\u201d How could it not be so? For \u201cChinese language, culture, and political institutions were the hallmarks of civilization, such that even regional rivals and foreign conquerors adopted them to varying degrees as a sign of their own legitimacy.\u201d \u201cStrategic acumen\u201d shaped China\u2019s earliest international policies; and to support its central position it could call on a remarkable series of potential followers and aides.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the New York Review of Books, Jonathan Spence, Sterling Professor of History Emeritus at Yale University, reviews Henry Kissinger’s new book, On China: It is hard to fit Henry Kissinger\u2019s latest book, On China, into any conventional frame or genre. Partly that is because the somewhat self-deprecatory title conceals what is, in fact, an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[116,100],"tags":[1611,1369,8178,976,2214],"class_list":["post-121274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world","category-politics","tag-book-reviews","tag-diplomacy","tag-henry-kissinger","tag-history","tag-jonathan-spence","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nJonathan Spence: Kissinger and China<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2011\/05\/jonathan-spence-kissinger-and-china\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jonathan Spence: Kissinger and China\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the New York Review of Books, Jonathan Spence, Sterling Professor of History Emeritus at Yale University, reviews Henry Kissinger’s new book, On China: It is hard to fit Henry Kissinger\u2019s latest book, On China, into any conventional frame or genre. 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