China Report 51, 4 (2015): 339–369 of masses with the Party’s ambitions by improving their economic, environmental and cultural standards of living under the Party’s continued leadership. The book succeeds in describing the limited scope and superficial nature of China’s political reforms. In post-reform China, CCP’s legitimacy is founded on its capacity to deliver a better standard of living to the people. The initial reform measures have run their due course and groups with strong vested interests have surfaced. Structural reforms in the direction of the rule of law, an independent judiciary, greater transparency and freedom of expression have become indispensable to ensure China’s continued progress. However, these requirements pose a direct threat to the CCP’s absolute authority and Xi Jinping has resolved to not undertake any ‘subversive methods’. Although gradual and incremental reforms are being carried out, the leadership accords highest priority to the CCP’s continued monopoly over power. From this perspective, it is evident that Xi’s amassing of power is for power’s sake, and strongly hints of survivalism. An inherent drawback of the book is its premature critique of the Xi administration. While Professor Lam’s analysis of the barely 2-year-old regime (at the time of going to print) is commendable in its richness and fairness, the Xi regime has still not assumed its final form. By some measures, it is still undergoing the consolidation phase. The Four Comprehensives unveiled in February 2015 prior to the lianghui (the annual sessions of the National People’s Congress and the National Committee of Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference) are expected to become Xi Jinping’s ideological legacy. Although the book has not covered this development, the concepts enunciated in this theory nevertheless have been thoroughly discussed. Because of the concurrent nature of the subject, the book draws heavily upon news and Internet sources. The CCP-specific jargon has been adequately explained while the theoretical aspects of Chinese politics have not been discussed. This book is an erudite analysis of a dynamic subject and is recommended to readers keen on understanding the nuances of contemporary Chinese politics.

Alpana Verma

Papers

Book Review: Media Transparency in China: Rethinking Rhetoric and Reality by Baohui Xie