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KERRY BROWN: Hu Jintao: China's Silent Ruler. Singapore: World Scientific 2012, 230 pp.
Kerry Brown's Hu Jintao: China's Silent Ruler is an account of China's development under Hu Jintao. Brown narrates the history of the China Hu grew up in, and recounts the major events in Chinese politics leading up to and during his time in office. In an effort to present an accurate portrait of China's leader, Brown carefully traces those major Chinese events in which Hu was either directly or indirectly involved. However, as Brown states accurately, it is a deceptively difficult task to get the true measure of Hu's character. As the title of the book suggests, Hu is not a big talker. Hu's leadership style is completely different to that of his predecessors Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, and Jiang Zemin. The three leaders before Hu-Mao especially-had easily identifiable personal traits and ideas that quickly translated into official Party thought. Hu, on the other hand, rarely offers a glimpse into his personal thinking. When he does speak in public, his speeches are void of individual thought or emotion. He only answers prepared questions from reporters, and, even among other high-ranking politicians in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), he maintains his stolid manner. Hu's egoless style of rule, coupled with Chinese black-box politics, makes it exceedingly difficult to figure out Hu.
Brown opens his book with a chapter on Hu's "personal" life, and quickly establishes the book's theme: although Hu is one of the world's most powerful figures, he keeps an incredibly low profile. Even basic facts such as Hu's birthplace are subject to dispute. In this chapter Brown follows Hu from his time at Tsinghua University as a hydrology student all the way through his rise in the Politburo-China's top organ of power-and eventually to his current position. Although no personal records of Hu's youth exist, Brown draws conclusions about Hu from his experience at Tsinghua and his lack of activity during the Cultural Revolution. Hu graduated just before the revolution began, and would have been exposed to a number of political groups, such as the Red Guard, that could easily damage a politician's standing. Even if Hu was involved in any radical groups, his involvement was low key. As Brown puts...