China Watcher: Confessions of a Peking Tom

by Richard Baum

Overview

This audacious and illuminating memoir by Richard Baum, a senior China scholar and sometime policy advisor, reflects on forty years of learning about and interacting with the People’s Republic of China, from the height of Maoism during the author’s UC Berkeley student days in the volatile 1960s through globalization. Anecdotes from Baum’s professional life illustrate the alternately peculiar, frustrating, fascinating, and risky activity of China watching — the process by which outsiders gather and decipher official and unofficial information to figure out what’s really going on behind China’s veil of political secrecy and propaganda. Baum writes entertainingly, telling his narrative with witty stories about people, places, and eras.

China Watcher will appeal to scholars and followers of international events who lived through the era of profound political and academic change described in the book, as well as to younger, post-Mao generations, who will enjoy its descriptions of the personalities and political forces that shaped the modern field of China studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780295992532
Publisher:	University of Washington Press
Publication date:	04/01/2014
Series:	A Samuel and Althea Stroum Book
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	8.80(w) x 6.00(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Richard Baum was distinguished professor of political science at UCLA and director emeritus of the UCLA Center for Chinese Studies.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Preface

1. The Occidental Tourist

2. A Dissertation Is Not a Dinner Party

3. Confessions of a Peking Tom

4. Through the Looking Glass

5. Democracy Deferred

6. Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics

7. The Road to Tiananmen

8. After the Deluge

9. China Rising

10. God in the Machine

11. The Wild, Wild West

12. Beijing Revisited

13. China Watching, Then and Now

14. The Gini in the Jar

15. Loose Ends

Epilogue

Author's Notes

Suggestions for Further Reading

Index

What People are Saying About This

Michael L. Ross

"The special charm of China Watcher is the way Baum draws the reader into a world of musty archives and political rivalries, both grand and petty, to give us insights into the political, social, and economic transformation of China. Along the way we are treated to cameos from a wide range of actors, some of whom— like George H. W. Bush and Chalmers Johnson— go on to great notoriety. I literally had trouble putting the book down."

John Pomfret

"Richard Baum has been watching China for decades with a combination of bemusement, shock, awe, and smarts, and he has instructed generations of China watchers. Now he’s finally shared the secrets of tea—leaf reading and produced a wonderful book that should be must—reading for anyone interested in where China has come from and where it’s going."

Evan Osnos

"Richard Baum has given us a rare and intimate gift: a wonderfully funny and revealing chronicle of adventure, as experienced by one of the greatest China watchers of our time. Baum’s odyssey through four decades of China’s rise reminds us that true friendship to China requires not only patience, but honesty. As the Chinese expression puts it, he has always dared to step off his horse to examine the flowers up—close."

Andrew Walder

"Simply wonderful! I read it right through."

Merle Goldman

"Both informative and humorous, this book is well—written, amusing, and provides a comprehensive view of the field of modern Chinese studies."

China Review International

"For China watchers like myself, who lived through the period which Baum writes about, the book offers an excellent review of significant events and Baum's interpretation of them."

Thomas Gold

"Baum is one of the most insightful China watchers around and he provides a first—hand overview of developments in China interwoven with the nature and significance of China watching. He blends his own personal journal with the larger events, displaying liveliness and analysis."

James Fallowsnational correspondent for the Atlantic Monthly and

"China Watcher is a fascinating, vivid, and personally honest book that is revealing about China itself and the efforts of outsiders to make sense of China’s policies and prospects. This book held my interest all the way through."

The China Quarterly

"This book will resonate with anyone whose career-shaping fascination with mainland China originated in the decades before the policies of 'reform' and opening'… For readers whose interest in China came later…China Watcher: Confessions of a Peking Tom lays the groundwork for appreciation of the challenges of Western China-watching since the Communist Revolution… for students or casual readers who may be new to China studies, this book supplies a readable overview of major developments in the PRC since the rapprochement in US-China relations ushered in by ping-pong diplomacy and the 1972 Nixon visit."

David Shambaugh

"Written with flair, Baum’s memoir takes readers through a turbulent half century of China—watching and U.S.—China relations, offering a unique personal perspective on unusual Sino—American encounters. Baum takes us through the sometimes backbiting halls of Sinological academia to the Tiananmen uprising in Beijing, the Tibetan Plateau, the back streets of Hong Kong, the White House, and other locales. An intriguing and often humorous read."

Editorial Reviews

"One thing that makes this book valuable is that is shows how, over the course of Baum's career, not only has China itself changed profoundly but so have the methods scholars use to make sense of it."

Huffington Post

"Being a smart-aleck got him in trouble in academic circles at times, but it has served his memoir well. It is rare to find a serious scholar who is able to write about his life's work with such levity. We witness not just his knowledge (and ours) about China grow, but also watch him coming of age."

Mambo-Admin.com

"Richard Baum's China Watcher offers us a distinctive view into China and the field of China watching . . . Many in the profession will find his journey familiar, yet even professionals will find the book engaging because he so openly and candidly shines a light on what it has meant to be a China hand over the past 40 years."

Pacific Affairs - Scott Kennedy

China Watcher offers the rare opportunity to learn this history as author Richard Baum did-- from the front row.... It is rare to find a serious scholar who is able to write about his life's work with such levity. We witness not just his knowledge (and our) about China grow, but also watch him coming of age.... His measured optimism for the country and its relations with the rest of the world are all the more convincing for his exciting narrative about a long career of China watching.

-- "Zócalo Public Square"

A superb, engaging memoir.

--Gordon G. Chang "The Wall Street Journal Asia"

Baum charts the breathtaking changes of the past decades.

-- "Financial Times"

Being a smart-aleck got him in trouble in academic circles at times, but it has served his memoir well. It is rare to find a serious scholar who is able to write about his life's work with such levity. We witness not just his knowledge (and ours) about China grow, but also watch him coming of age.

-- "Mambo-Admin.com"

In his vivacious memoir China Watcher, leading American Sinologist Richard Baum recalls a time when just getting your hands on an internal Party document was enough to launch a career....

-- "The New York Review of Books"

In this fine memoir professor Richard Baum reminds us of many events, truths, themes and insanities over his four decades of visiting, studying and writing about China as an exceptionally well-traveled academic. He writes nicely, though not so slickly that you are made to wonder why he isn't struggling harder to understand China (he believes understanding China is a terrifying constant struggle, even for so-called experts), and he thinks deeply, though without the unnecessary density common to academic studies that have very little to say and-- tragically-- a whole of space in which to say it....the book is a wonderful way to get a handle on the current situation between China and the United States without losing your mind or your composure, or falling asleep.

--Tom Plate "syndicated columnist"

One suspects that many a stodgy China hand will publicly distain Baum's candid, colourful-- often hilarious-- retrospective. But they will clandestinely read this expose under the covers.

-- "South China Morning Post"

One thing that makes this book valuable is that is shows how, over the course of Baum's career, not only has China itself changed profoundly but so have the methods scholars use to make sense of it.

-- "Huffington Post"

Richard Baum's China Watcher offers us a distinctive view into China and the field of China watching . . . Many in the profession will find his journey familiar, yet even professionals will find the book engaging because he so openly and candidly shines a light on what it has meant to be a China hand over the past 40 years.

--Scott Kennedy "Pacific Affairs" (1/1/2011 12:00:00 AM)

This engaging, readable volume is a refreshing contrast to the tomes most China scholars produce.

-- "Choice"

What Baum does excellently in China Watcher is supply a wide-angle lens treatment to the major events of the past four decades, the sort of things only a person who was actually on the ground at the time can write about credibly. Imagine getting the fly-on-the-wall play-by-play half-an-hour before the recording of the Zapruder film, and you'll readily realize what I mean.

-- "CNReviews.com"

From the Publisher

China Watcher offers the rare opportunity to learn this history as author Richard Baum did— from the front row…. It is rare to find a serious scholar who is able to write about his life's work with such levity. We witness not just his knowledge (and our) about China grow, but also watch him coming of age…. His measured optimism for the country and its relations with the rest of the world are all the more convincing for his exciting narrative about a long career of China watching.

Zócalo Public Square

Baum charts the breathtaking changes of the past decades.

Financial Times

This engaging, readable volume is a refreshing contrast to the tomes most China scholars produce.

Choice

Richard Baum has given us a rare and intimate gift: a wonderfully funny and revealing chronicle of adventure, as experienced by one of the greatest China watchers of our time. Baum’s odyssey through four decades of China’s rise reminds us that true friendship to China requires not only patience, but honesty. As the Chinese expression puts it, he has always dared to step off his horse to examine the flowers up—close.

Evan Osnos

"Baum charts the breathtaking changes of the past decades."

Financial Times

"China Watcher offers the rare opportunity to learn this history as author Richard Baum did— from the front row…. It is rare to find a serious scholar who is able to write about his life's work with such levity. We witness not just his knowledge (and our) about China grow, but also watch him coming of age…. His measured optimism for the country and its relations with the rest of the world are all the more convincing for his exciting narrative about a long career of China watching."

Zócalo Public Square

"A superb, engaging memoir."

The Wall Street Journal Asia - Gordon G. Chang

"One suspects that many a stodgy China hand will publicly distain Baum's candid, colourful— often hilarious— retrospective. But they will clandestinely read this expose under the covers."

South China Morning Post

China Watcher offers the rare opportunity to learn this history as author Richard Baum did— from the front row…. It is rare to find a serious scholar who is able to write about his life's work with such levity. We witness not just his knowledge (and our) about China grow, but also watch him coming of age…. His measured optimism for the country and its relations with the rest of the world are all the more convincing for his exciting narrative about a long career of China watching.

Zocalo Public Square