Zhu Rongji On the Record

One of the themes that leaps from the pages of Zhu's meeting notes, speeches and other documents was his urgent determination to face and act upon difficult realities. China, he told his colleagues, was backward and had to work hard to catch up. China needed to improve its appearance as it faced the world, especially the developed world. China needed to recognize the necessity of studying the advanced economies of the world and learning from their experiences and their technological assets. The urgency of catching up, of doing so by opening the door more and more widely, and in so doing, of reformulating deep seated habits of thought and behavior throughout China's government and society, rings out clearly from Zhu's words.
Americans who remember that era will sigh with nostalgia when they read Zhu Rongji on the Record. Recent years have seen a very different set of themes, a different tone in China's politics and its attitudes toward the nations Zhu was so determined to welcome and equal. China has come a long way. The days of Deng Xiaoping's Southern Tour, the great reform of state-owned enterprises and the battle for WTO-driven economic opening are far behind. In their place we have ringing alarms about "Western forces," pervasive official corruption, market discrimination against Western firms, outbursts of rabid nationalism online, and much, much more than can be mentioned here. Zhu, remembered, was a tower of modesty, strength, dignity and realistic patriotism.