Tiger on the Brink

Gilley, Hong Kong correspondent for the Far East Economic Review, begins this intelligent, exhaustive biography of Chinese premier Jiang Zemin on an earthy note: he was partially inspired to write this book after running into the Chinese premier in a bathroom. That ""Jiang had obviously sipped too much tea"" made him ""living and breathing in my mind."" If Jiang never becomes quite so vivid for the reader, it's only because Gilley thereafter assumes a conventionally objective, scrupulously researched, cleanly written style for a chronological narrative that starts with Jiang's birth in 1926. Having joined the party in 1946, Jiang rose quickly through the ranks, but during the Cultural Revolution, he felt ""revulsion"" when asked to ""ferret out"" rightists--and quickly became known as ""everyman's leader."" By 1983, Jiang was appointed mayor of Shanghai, where his moderate views on foreign trade proved quietly revolutionary. He was dubbed Mr. Tiger Balm (""relieves all manners of aches and pains"") and Weathercock by opponents, and these nicknames illuminate his handling of 1989's Tiananmen Square massacre. To the protesters, he sounded ""an unusually moderate tone""; but after Deng Xiaoping offered him the position of party general secretary to avert attention from the protesters, Jiang took a hard line on Tiananmen. Gilley characterizes Jiang's ruling philosophy as based on ""economically liberal instincts; his willingness to adapt... Marxism in the face of new circumstances; his insistence on strict media controls."" It is a formula that, in Gilley's estimation, will assure the wily, aging Jiang a long and fruitful tenure. (Oct.)