On China

In On China, Kissinger describes what he calls the "triangulation" between China, the US, and the USSR. Kissinger tells us that Chinese leaders, starting with Mao Zedong, skillfully played the Americans and Russians off against each other, bolstering China's relatively weak position and enabling it to behave as a third Superpower. This account is the most significant element in On China, though Kissinger gives us more. He briefly sketches China's history, including the odd fact that the vast country apparently has no origin myth -- even in its oldest stories China was simply always there -- and then brings the picture into increasing detail as he moves forward, achieving the sharpest focus in those years when Kissinger himself was closely involved in the Chinese--American interaction. Along the way we get glimpses of the personalities of 20th and 21st century Chinese leaders. Mao, for example, comes across as brilliant and fiercely determined, but lacking any sense of empathy. Zhou Enlai was subtle, polite and solicitous, but distant. Deng Xioping was practical, down-to-earth, and direct, and so on -- the former Secretary of State is at pains to be objective and to give everyone his due. Kissinger may be an old cold warrior, and some will never forgive him for his involvement with the Vietnam war and the bombing of Cambodia, but his analyses are always insightful, and it is fascinating to follow his mind at work. Highly recommended.

The author try to help us to understand more about China’s political philosophy. This kind of understanding is still lacking in Western society and many politicians made poor judgements on many issues. The book will help to alleviate the problem and possibly avoid some disasters.And the author provided Chinese readers very precious opportunities to know more about Chinese leaders. Chinese propaganda machine has done too little to link the general public and the leadership, which will harm the political root of Communist Party. This book described many strategic thoughts and endeavors of Chinese leaders, which are rarely discussed in China.But the book lacks of details on events after 1990s. Maybe this is because of the decline of the author’s political activities. The author hopes that the US and China could make reconciliations to reduce the risk of political confrontations. However, recent years’ development does not bodes well.Highly recommended to both Chinese and Western readers who want to know more about China.

The book is of immense value to anyone with even a passing interest in US, China relations. While some may criticize HAK for his treatment of Moa and other significant dignitaries, i.e. he does not go into detail regarding personalities and character traits, he does provide adequate information concerning their thoughts and statements related to his, HAK's, experience with them. Typical of Kissinger writings related to historical events, he frames all actors in such a way as to explain their behavior, rather than to microscopically examine their motives or personalities....with the practical effect, the reader is allowed to concentrate on events, instead of becoming embroiled in particulars related to individuals..........All people have particulars, about which, volumes of speculative writings could be generated; HAK penetrates and emphasizes the traits understandable to virtually every person. I believe the great lesson presented by this volume is that deep understanding of previous events, not the random occurrence various personalities, is the touchstone of successful international relations. HAK is a master of not losing perspective on the forest by becoming too concerned with the individual trees.

I’m giving this book 5 stars because of its uniqueness and the value of its personal interpretation of events, the many direct quotes and examples given, and the the author’s obvious importance in the last 40 years of world history. That is not to say this is a perfect book. It’s is peculiar to itself and worth the read.As someone who has studied and lived in China, though after the periods referred to in the book for the most part, I find many of his explanations and analysis to be worthy of serious consideration and based on historical fact with consideration of the ancient and modern Chinese consciousness. Do I agree with everything? No. This book would have been too tame and timid if every statement expressed in its pages were wholly supported by all readers.I anticipate, from a quick scan of other reviews, that some will find the author rather laudatory towards several of the Chinese leaders mentioned. He does show respect, something the American republic is often hesitant to do towards any foreign leader or even our own; however, you will find he writes with similar respect towards American leaders of similar time periods and it is impossible to write clear facts in some cases, without it being assumed that credit is being given.The author has a very well realized concept of the stumbling blocks, cultural tripping points and shear weight of history that face any combination of leaders from China and the U.S. as they try to step forward into the future. In many cases, it seems that he is refraining from judgement or attempting to put forth facts that the general public with its media pipeline of information, may not have considered. One must read this book for its value as a statement of viewpoint and personally experienced event, understood from one man’s perspective. It is useful, in and of itself; all accounts of history have a perspective unique to the telling and the study of what it perceived or advertised is nearly as important as the event themselves. Consider Ramesses II and his carving commemorating the defeat of the Hittites at Kadesh.

Henry Kissinger is undoubtedly one of the most known diplomats in human history and has a mixed reputation regarding his work. In his book 'On China', Kissinger presents his own understanding of China and demonstrates the importance of this country's cultural framework when it comes to its leadership and foreign policy.It is a highly detailed book on his work in China as a diplomat of the US government so if you are looking for information on how US-China relations developed during his term in the government it is an invaluable source. Of course, keep in mind that this book has little to say for the last twenty years.It's a must read for researchers, scholars and aficionados of foreign policy.

This is an excellent history and analysis of political China from the point of view of someone who saw more of the inside of Chinese politics than any other outsider in the 20th century. Kissinger gives what I found a most informative description of the culture within which Chinese political matters occur. In particular he emphasizes the continuity of the history and the fact that with such a long and continuous historical record, the Chinese invariably have a past example to point to, and by which to interpret and analyse current events.The description of the Nixon-Mao meetings is riveting with the characters of the two leaders - and their lieutenants - Lin Biao, Zhu Enlai, Deng Xioaping and of course Kissinger, interweaving, with strengths and weaknesses, and fears of an aggressive Soviet Union driving events in a manner which was entirely unexpected at the time, but which resulted in the avoidance of serious conflict.Overall, a very very interesting, and very well written book.

The book covers a huge historical period. It is true, however, that the first of a total of eighteen chapters plus an epilogue covers a period of millenia. It commences with the unification of China in the 3rd century B.C. and ends in the 19th century, a period of humiliation for China with incursions, depredations, and its semicolonization by the Western powers. The aim of this first chapter is to familiarize the reader with China's Confucian culture, its approach to Diplomacy and its conception of the Art of War. The balance of the book covers the remaining period to the present year. This latter period includes the very period of its humiliation including the notorious opium war, the 22 year civil war which ended with communism prevailing in 1949;the Mao era and the turbulent sixties with the Great Leap Forward which left in its wake 20 million Chinese dead from famine, the Cultural Revolution which nearly ruined China and forced Mao to reverse it. But it also describes the unprecedented growth under Mao's successor, Deng Xiaoping and the Chinese leaders that followed him rendering China an Economic Superpower.The credentials of the author for writing the book are impeccable:the book was written 40 years after the author's first high level mission to China at the behest of president Nixon in 1971 and following 50 additional travels and discussions with four generations of Chinese leaders in the interval.The book aims, partly drawing on the discussions with Chinese leaders as primary source, to explain the conceptual way the Chinese think about problems of peace and war and international order, and its relationship to the more pragmatic American way.American exceptionalism is missionary. It holds that the United States has an obligation to spread its values to every part of the world. China's exceptionalism is cultural. China does not proselytize;it does not claim that its contemporary institutions are relevant outside China. But it is heir to the Middle kingdom tradition, which formally graded all other states as various levels of tributaries based on their approximation to Chinese cultural and political forms;in other words, a kind of cultural universality.At the time when Buddhism appeared in Indian culture stressing contemplation and inner peace, and monotheism was proclaimed by the Jewish - and, later, Christian and Islamic - prophets with an evocation of a life after death, China produced no religious themes in the Western sense at all. The Chinese never created a myth of cosmic creation. Their universe was created by the Chinese themselves, whose values, even when declared of universal applicability, were conceived of as Chinese in origin.The predominant values of Chinese society were derived from the prescriptions of Confucius (551-479 B.C.). Confucius was concerned with the cultivation of social harmony. His themes were the principles of compassionate rule, the performance of correct rituals, and the inculcation of filial piety. The Confucius canon would evolve into something akin to China's Bible and constitution combined. Its maxim the harmonius society. Confucius preached a hierarchical social order. Oriented toward this world, his thinking affirmed a code of social conduct, not a roadmap to the after-life. At the pinnacle of the Chinese order stood the Emperor, a figure with no parallel in the Western experience. He combined the spiritual as well as the secular claims of the social order. The empire was administered by high literate bureaucracy selected following national examination.In Diplomacy rarely did the Chinese statesmen risk the outcome of a conflict on a single all-or-nothing clash;elaborate multiyear maneuvers were closer to their style. Where Western tradition prized the decisive clash of forces, the Chinese ideal sressed subtlety, indirection, and the patient accumulation of relative advantage.China's most enduring game is wei qi. Wei qi translates as 'game of surrounding pieces;it implies a concept of strategic encirclement.Chess on the other hand, is about total victory. The purpose of the game is checkmate, to put the opposing king into a position where he cannot move without being destroyed.A similar contrast exists in the case of China's distictive military theory. Chinese thinkers developed stragetic thought that placed a premium on victory through psychological advantage and preached the avoidance of direct conflict. The seminal figure in this tradition is known to history as Sun Tzu, author of the famed treatise 'The Art of War'. What distinguishes Sun Tzu from Western writers on strategy is the emphasis on the psychological and political elements over the purely military. Where Western strategists reflect on the means to assemble superior power at the decisive point, Sun Tzu addresses the means of building dominant political and psychological position, such that the outcome becomes a foregone conclusion.The author is incisive in describing the personalities of Chinese leaders including Mao's and Zhou's:'The difference between the leaders was reflected in their personalities. Mao dominated any gathering;Zhu suffused it. Mao's passion strove to overwhelm opposition;Zhou's intellect would seek to persuade or outmaneuver it. Mao was sardonic;Zhou penetrating. Mao thought himself as a philosopher;Zhou saw his role as an administrator or negotiator;Mao was eager to accelerate history;Zhou was content to exploit its currents. A saying he often repeated was 'The helmsman must ride the waves.' When they were together there was no question of the hierarchy, not only in the formal sense but in the deepest aspect of Zhou's extraordinary deferential conduct.'And then we come to Deng. Mao destroyed China and left its rubles as building blocks for ultimate modernization. Deng was the builder. The China of today - with the world's second-largest economy and largest volume of foreign exchange reserves, and with multiple cities boasting skyscrapers taller than the Empire State building - is testimonial to Deng's vision, tenacity, and common sense.Mao had governed as a traditional emperor of a majestic and awe-inspiring kind. He embodied the myth of the imperial ruler supplying the link between heaven and earth and closer to the divine than the terrestrial. Deng governed in the spirit of another Chinese tradition:basing omnipotence on the ubiquitousness but also the invisibility of the ruler.Mao had governed by counting on the endurance of the Chinese people to sustain the suffering his personal vision would impose on them. Deng governed by liberating the creativeness of the Chinese people to living above their own vision of the future.In the epilogue the author outlines possible scenarios in the relationship between USA and China:The conflict scenario: The United States is more focused on overwhelming military power, China on decisive psychological impact. Sooner or later, one side or the other would miscalculate.The above scenario is countered by China's demographics and the capability of modern military technology.Another scenario is that the crucial competition between the United States and China is more likely to be economic and social than military.The author concludes appropriately the book with a wish:that the United States and China could merge their efforts to build the world.

I ve ordered and read everal other books on China (destined for war, the party, age of ambition etc etc). I found this to be by far the best. Yes, Kissinger is often an apologist of China's communist dictatorship, if not an enabler as he facilicated China's rise. But his analysis of why and how it rises is second to none.

Incredibly most of us in the Western world know next to nothing about China. I found the book a fascinating account of Chinese history and philosophy and how Chinese traditions that have matured over millennium impacted the thoughts, strategies and actions of Mao and the post Mao decades. Kissinger had had the opportunity to meet more of the Chinese 20th Century leaders than anyone else in the West. His analysis of their thoughts and actions, based on his personal contacts does much to explain how China has developed to become potentially once again the most powerful nation on earth.I found the book also very easy to read.