An NYT Report on CHANG Jun’s Book About Cixi

choi

Keith Bradsher, 中国的繁荣归功于慈禧太后？ 纽约时报中文网, Oct 31, 2013
http://cn.tmagazine.com/culture/20131031/t31chang/

, which is translated from

Keith Bradsher, China’s Economic Surge Has Roots Before Deng, Book Finds. New York Times, Nov 3, 2013.

Quote:

(a) "Using extensive access to Beijing archives on Cixi that have not been available to biographers outside China, Ms. Chang presents her subject as neither the cruel despot nor the easily manipulated ruler that the Communist Party and other critics have long portrayed.

(b) "Chang’s book is so favorable about Cixi that some historians are wary. * * * John Delury, an assistant professor of Chinese studies at Yonsei University 延世大學校 in Seoul who specializes in the Qing dynasty, said that he had looked forward to the book because Ms Chang had so much access to source material in China.

"But Mr Delury said that, with most of the chapters ending with strong praise of Cixi, he was concerned about whether the archival material had been objectively assessed. 'As a reader, you don’t know what to trust, because everything is the best possible' interpretation of her actions, he said. 'Really what we need is a post-revisionist biography that is very scholarly and very careful.'

(c) "Although Ms Chang’s books are banned in mainland China, Ms Chang said that the Chinese government has continued to let her travel to China each year to visit her elderly mother, but with restrictions.

“'I’ve made a commitment not to speak at public gatherings, not to talk to the press and not even to see my friends – I just restrict my visits to my mother and very close, old friends who have nothing to do with politics,' as well as meeting a few Chinese scholars, she said. 'I just hope that I can still go back to China and see my mother.'

My comment:
(a) Rather than in Book Review section, this was published in the section A as a report.
(b) Unusually, the translation was published (online) days BEFORE the original (in press). Because of this, for several days after Nov 3, I was waiting for 纽约时报中文网 to translate it, until I found out--and then recalled--that it had been translated.
(c) In the last quoted sentence, Ms Chang Jun could have “made a commitment” to Chinese Communist Party or to herself. It is unclear from the reporting.