Tiananmen killings was not limited - there were related uprisings, large and small, in several hundred Chinese cities, and using the word 'Tiananmen' on the internet can bring a knock on the door; the Olympic opening ceremony was not a total success - it was marked by fakery, including the dubbed little girl singing, and the Games themselves were marred by the arrests of dissidents and the prevention of any public criticism.

The fundamental flaw in this book, however, is Jacques' swallowing whole the lowest common denominator of the Chinese self-image, available from taxidrivers and the four students Jacques quotes at length. That is, that China has existed more or less in essence for 5,000 years, and even alien conquerors, like the Mongols (the Yuan, 1280-1368) and Manchus (theQing, 1644-1912) adopted Chinese ways as soon as they could. It is true that there are some Chinese who say this but it is no longer the unquestioning notion of educated people inside or outside China. None of the present scholars on the Manchus, notably Pamela Crossley and Evelyn S. Rawski, are listed in Jacques' bibliography. These historians emphasise how malleable the 'alien' rule was; sometimes alien, sometimes 'Chinese', depending on what seemed needed. For example, Manchu women could not bind their feet Chinese-style, and Chinese men were forced to wear the Manchu pigtail. Manchu rule varied with the part of China in which it was exercised, using different languages to issue commands, and using different modes of bureaucracy.

Nor did Confucianism start in the Qin, several hundred years