Bad Elements

Bad Elements by Ian Buruma was published in 2001, so, considering how dramatically China has grown over the past couple of decades, I almost gave it a pass. I’m glad I didn’t. While China has changed in many ways, it has yet to undergo the kind of transformation many have expected or hoped for, especially in the areas of human rights, freedom of speech, and any meaningful transition toward democracy. Bad Elements remains relevant, even if it doesn’t account for more recent events. Another reason to read it is Buruma’s clarity of thought and smooth prose, so even where parts feel dated, the book remains compelling. It also brought me back to the late 1990s, when the world sensed China was on the cusp of monumental change, without knowing quite what that change would bring.

For Bad Elements, Buruma sits down, often over meals and in a style reminiscent of Anthony Bourdain, with Chinese dissidents to hear their stories, some violent and harrowing, others deeply courageous, as well as their views on the past, present and future of China, along with Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Tibet. Throughout the book, he returns to the Tiananmen Square protests as a kind of modern focal point for activism and opposition. He begins his interviews in the United States, far from Beijing, and gradually moves closer to the political center, speaking with people of Chinese birth or descent living both within and beyond greater China. At times the search for answers becomes frustrating, for both the reader and Buruma, as he navigates a haze of misinformation, ideology and the recurring claim that China is too vast, too old and too complex for outsiders to truly understand. He also explores the intriguing connection between Christianity and Chinese dissidents, along with parallels between religion and democracy.