In 'China After Mao', Frank Dikötter explores the complex and often contradictory path China has taken since Mao's death in 1976. The book delves into China's economic rise, its political structure, and the challenges it faces, challenging common narratives about China's transition and its future prospects. Dikötter argues that despite economic growth, China remains deeply entrenched in its authoritarian system.
This book by Frank Dikötter provides an unprecedented account of China's Great Famine, which resulted from Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward. The Great Leap Forward was an attempt to rapidly industrialize and modernize China, but it ended in one of the deadliest mass killings in human history, with estimates suggesting between 30 to 45 million deaths. Dikötter's research, based on newly opened Communist Party archives, reveals the direct responsibility of top Chinese government officials, including Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, for the famine. The book details the devastating impact on rural areas, the forced collectivization, and the extreme violence and starvation that ensued. It also challenges the myth that the central leadership was unaware of the famine, showing instead that they made deliberate choices that exacerbated the crisis.
Frank Dikötter's 'The Tragedy of Liberation' chronicles Mao Zedong's ascension and the campaign to transform China, revealing a shocking history of terror and violence. Drawing on previously classified documents and eyewitness accounts, the book provides a powerful narrative of the early years of the People's Republic of China, exposing the brutal policies implemented by the Communist Party.
Frank Dikötter is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution who has recently returned to the United States after living in Hong Kong since 2006. In this provocative conversation, Dikötter challenges the prevailing narrative about China’s rise. Drawing from his latest book, China After Mao: The Rise of a Superpower, Dikötter argues that the Chinese Communist Party has masterfully projected the image of a powerful, modern, and economically dominant nation—but says that image is largely a façade.
Dikötter contends that far from being a true superpower, China remains fundamentally fragile: an empire held together by repression, propaganda, and paranoia. Despite gleaming cities and impressive-seeming economic statistics often cited by the West, he asserts that much of China’s so-called growth has been built on the backs of an impoverished population, often without its consent or benefit. He further explains how inflated numbers, hollow institutions, and internal contradictions undermine China’s long-term strength. In his view, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) hasn’t lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty—it has merely stepped aside as ordinary people began reclaiming their autonomy after decades of devastation under Mao.
Dikötter delves into how the CCP’s fear—of its own citizens, of capitalism, of peaceful evolution—has driven decisions for decades. Dikötter also draws parallels with the Soviet Union and suggests that, like the USSR’s, China’s power is brittle beneath the surface. Xi Jinping, he argues, is not a break from tradition but a continuation of the Party’s long-standing obsession with control.
This conversation calls into question not only China’s global ambitions but also how the West has consistently misread the CCP’s intentions and capabilities. Ultimately, Dikötter leaves us with a stark question: Are we overestimating China’s strength—and underestimating its fear?
Recorded on March 27, 2025.
Uncommon Knowledge 
