The Empire of Lies

Before the totalitarian reign of Mao Zedong and his immediate successors, never in human history had an entire nation been under such intense surveillance. The Chinese not only had to speak alike; they had to think alike.Travelling to China regularly since 1967, and spending all of 2005 and 2006, Guy Sorman saw it all, and in this jaw-dropping book, he documents the horrifying stories of China through the 21st century. He shows how the Party's primary concern is not improving the lives of the downtrodden; it seeks power more than it seeks social development. It expends extraordinary energy in suppressing Chinese freedoms - the media operate under suffocating censorship, and political opposition can result in expulsion or prison - even as it tries to seduce the West, which has conferred greater legitimacy on it than do the Chinese themselves.China's government is spiralling out of control. Emigration from the countryside might be a way out, but it's not easy to find a permanent job in the city. Millions still feel the backlash of Tieneman Square massacare, the population regulation of one child per family, and the ever kept secret, AIDS crisis. In Empire of Lies , Sorman shows that China hasn't reformed at all. The future, bleak, leaves readers wondering, where can they go from here?