Zhao Ziyang rose to become Premier and later General Secretary of the Communist Party. Although he now held the most senior position in China's Leadership, he had to deal with an older generation of party veterans who lacked official titles but wielded ultimate authority. Zhao was supreme leader Deng Xiaoping's man and Deng began the process of transforming China's economy.



During the Tiananmen Square protests Zhao felt that the situation was not initially as serious as it later became and advocated defusing tensions by holding a series of meetings with and speeches to the students. Hardliners disagreed and what happened next reads like something out of Shakespeare as elders circled with daggers in their sleeves.



Zhao was cast from power and spent the remainder of his life under house arrest. He was unable to speak with journalists, foreigners or former colleagues. Through it all he kept a secret journal which was smuggled out of China after his death. In it he recounts the transformation and rapid growth of the Chinese economy, Tiananmen Square and his political downfall, and his prescription for the future China. This is a rare glimpse behind China's silk curtain of power.



I read Prisoner of the State: The Secret Journal of Premier Zhao Ziyang immediately after reading Beijing Coma: A Novel and would recommend that other interested readers do the same.