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direct or through the lives of those to whom she spoke, seem to indicate that part of the solution must lie in improving the quality and ethics of the bureaucracy at all levels. In a country where the officials and the Party still call all the shots, attempts to educate the people at large in "good conduct" will be abortive, as well as meaningless, without it. Paradoxically, there is the long Confucian (and quintessentially Chinese) tradition of good government and right behaviour to sustain the dual effort - still meaningful and understood, but not, in every age, or everywhere, attainable.
Have I any criticisms? Not really. The photographs (mostly colour) illuminate the text, and there are next to no typos, but as a historian, I noted an oversight (p.78) in which Xiamen (formerly Amoy) and Guangzhou (Canton) are located together, and a paragraph in which (p.145) the essential legislation ending the Chinese institution of mui tsai (servant girls) in Hong Kong is given as the 1950s instead of the 1930s.
To conclude, we are much in Jane Hutcheon's debt for such a useful and pertinent survey of a great people and nation at this crucial stage of their transition to modernity. There is much to learn and ponder upon in this attractive book, which will serve as a handy benchmark for checking on 'New China's' course in the years immediately ahead. Its leaders, too, could benefit from the dedicated efforts of a skilled observer who, though critical, is always balanced, and is ever a true friend of their land and its people.
JAMES HAYES,
SYDNEY,
2003
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