China: Alive in the Bitter Sea

Summary

A reporter's intimate portrait of post-Mao China, drawing on Butterfield's tenure as the first New York Times bureau chief in Beijing after the normalization of relations. He documents the lingering trauma of the Cultural Revolution, the daily compromises of life under the Party, and the cautious openings of the early reform era. The book offered American readers one of their earliest detailed glimpses behind the official facade.