漫忆百年－共和国开国部长的荣与辱

"A Hundred Year RecollectionPatriotism & Punishment Of A Senior Minister In China", is the biography of Mr. Xu Daben, a former Deputy Minister during the 1950s and 1960s under Mao Zedong. Unlike books published inside China that are censored by the Communist Party for political correctness or altered accordingly, Mr. Xu presents an honest and unbiased account of his personal experiences during a century long period that includes his childhood, school years, the second Sino-Japanese War and, most importantly, his political rise and subsequent fall in the Chinese government. These experiences reflect the Communist Party's ideological metamorphism from the Nationalist Opposition Party whose objective was to create a new China based on equality and fairness; to the post 1949 ruling regime whose goals were to maintain a feudal autocracy while suppressing democracy and freedom, all leading to a system rife with political, economic and moral corruption.
In general, Mr. Xu's life can be divided into two parts. The first follows a patriotic youth who realized his dreams of a free China through fighting the Japanese invaders. His bravery, hard work and college education provided him with the tools he would utilize for a promising political career. He moved from a governor's role at one of the Northern Anti-Japanese Camps in the early 1940s to Vice Minister of Energy in the early 1950s to Deputy Minister of the Coal Industry in 1955.
The second part concentrates on Mr. Xu's political misfortunes caused by movements initiated by Mao Zedong and his followers. Unfortunately, his honesty and intellectual background became his downfall as he encountered strong opposition that eventually brought about his demotion and punishment. Sadly, in 1984, during China's robust economic reform initiative, Mr. Xu, who joined the Communist Party in 1936 and still holds a 7th level national ranking in the government, was expelled by the Central Secretariat without any explanation. The underlying reason behind this unjustified punishment is still a mystery, but a disagreement that occurred eight years previously between Mr. Xu and his direct boss, who was later promoted to a national leadership position, could be one plausible explanation. These political penalties led Mr. Xu to a decades-long struggle for reinstatement. Although many party officials were wrongfully punished, Mr. Xu's bad luck is an extreme instance of the dark side of the Communist Party where backroom power plays are carried out, and personal vendettas replace responsibility for the people's welfare. The real cause for such moral corruption is not just the result of several bad apples but a political system that allows them to flourish and multiply. This system is one that does not reward loyalty and hard work for the betterment of China, but one of Kafkaesque intrigues, greed and suspicion.
As this unique book unfolds, it follows the fate of one man and reveals many skeletons that are still being hidde...