A Political Life

Wang Huning has been a member of the Politburo Standing Committee (PSC)-the top eight leaders of the Communist Party of China- since 2017. This is the first English translation of his diary, A Political Life, from his time at Fudan University in Shanghai from the beginning to the end of the year 1994. His diary contains profound reflections on the development of China and its governance system in the new era, both deeply technical and intimately personal. It features eight carefully translated poems composed by the author, with the original Chinese reproduced in an appendix as well. This translation features a new bibliography that tracks down the over one-hundred references he makes to various books, movies, TV series, and academic journals, so the reader can trace the sources of inspiration of one of the most influential leaders in the world today.