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  • Published: 2 October 2012
  • ISBN: 9780141975559
  • Imprint: Penguin Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 336
  • RRP: $24.99

The Party

The Secret World of China's Communist Rulers




'A book that is as informative as it is entertaining ... China has been transformed. The system that takes the credit is brilliantly described by McGregor' Chris Patten, Financial Times

Newly updated version including analysis of the once-in-a-decade leadership changes taking place in November 2012

China's Communist Party is the largest, most powerful political machine in the world. Here, Richard McGregor delves deeply into its inner sanctum, revealing how this secretive cabal keeps control of every aspect of the country - its military and media, legal system and businesses, even its religious organizations. How has the Party merged Marx, Mao and the market to create a global superpower? And what does this mean for the world?

  • Published: 2 October 2012
  • ISBN: 9780141975559
  • Imprint: Penguin Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 336
  • RRP: $24.99

About the author

Richard McGregor

Author of the acclaimed bestseller The Party: The Secret World of China's Communist Rulers, Richard McGregor has reported from Asia for two decades. Formerly Chief of the Washington Bureau of the Financial Times, he has won numerous awards for his journalism. He has also contributed articles and reports to the BBC, the International Herald Tribune and the Far Eastern Economic Review. In 2015 he was made a Fellow at the Wilson Center in Washington.

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Praise for The Party

Extraordinary

Sunday Times

Masterful ... entertaining and insightful

Economist

Superb ... an essential, riveting guide to how the rising power really works

Jonathan Fenby

If you read only one book about China this year, it should be this one. And if you do not read this book, you probably do not understand China today

Arthur Kroeber, China Economic Quarterly

A compelling exploration of the world's largest and most successful political machine

New Statesman

A book that is as informative as it is entertaining ... China has been transformed. The system that takes the credit is brilliantly described by McGregor

Chris Patten, Financial Times

McGregor is one of the best foreign journalists who have reported from China. The Party draws on two decades of superb reporting ... A fine contribution for those who want to know about the rising power they will face in the decades ahead

Ezra Vogel, Professor Emeritus, Harvard University

Few outsiders have any realistic sense of the innards, motives, rivalries, and fears of the Chinese Communist leadership. But we all know much more than before, thanks to Richard McGregor's illuminating and richly-textured look at the people in charge of China's political machinery ... invaluable for anyone trying to make sense of China's future plans and choices

James Fallows, National Correspondent for The Atlantic

Fascinating and ambitious ... Richard McGregor lays bare the secretive machinery of the party

Gady Epstein, Forbes

McGregor has done the world a service with his fascinating new book

Peter Hartcher, Sydney Morning Herald

A fascinating read ... in an age when Chinese economic influence is reaching new levels, it is an invaluable exercise in understanding the operation of the most powerful political party in the world

Ian Kehoe, Sunday Business Post

A vivid narrative, sprinkled with humour and insight ... amazing characters ... an engrossing read

South China Morning Post

Gripping ... McGregor brings to life the characters behind the icons of Chinese power and wealth, the figures that built the Shanghai skyline and rebuilt Beijing for the Olympics. More importantly, he gives us a feel for the dynamics behind China's rise

Irish Times

A lively and penetrating account of a party that ... has clung to secrecy as an inviolable principle

Andrew Higgins, Washington Post

Eminently readable ... McGregor has done a great service to those who would hope to better understand where China's power lies

China Economic Review

An illuminating glimpse behind the red curtain ... McGregor's lucid dissection shows how top-ranked party members - indeed the party itself - sit outside the law

Metro