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China After Mao: The Rise of a Superpower Author : Frank Dikötter ISBN-13 : 978-1526634283 Publisher : Bloomsbury Guideline Price : £25 China under communism has long been a notoriously difficult country to gather and collate accurate data and information on, not least because of the ruling party’s secrecy and a widespread self-serving fudging of figures. Frank Dikötter, in his research for this history of the People’s Republic since Mao Zedong’s death, benefited from an unprecedented opening-up of party archives from 1996 on, which lasted until Xi Jinping’s accession to power a decade ago. It’s an ironic detail, given that...
