In his fascinating, meticulously researched The Sentinel State, Pei focuses on how the Chinese government upgraded its surveillance capabilities to prevent another social movement like the one that inspired the 1989 Tiananmen Square uprising. -- Annalee Newitz * New York Times Book Review * Mr. Peis impressive research includes his examination of hundreds of official and leaked government documents as well as his interviews with dissidents who offer accounts of the surveillance they have been subjected to[ his] chronicle ranges across recent Chinese history from Maos China to the post Tiananmen Square period to the increasingly oppressive watchfulness of Xi Jinpings regime today. -- L. Gordon Crovitz * Wall Street Journal * Pei believes it is surveillance, and not the oft-cited factors of economic growth, nationalism, and the culture of deference, that is the key to the survival of the Chinese communist party-state. Such a robust system could fail only if the governments revenue managers failed to raise enough tax money to support it. -- Andrew J. Nathan * Foreign Affairs * An authoritative study of Chinas surveillance system and its ability to strangle any possible dissentPei reveals the vast machinery of surveillance and repression in China, fueled by leaders fear, distrust, and paranoia. * Kirkus Reviews (starred review) * Pei ably untangles and demystifies the Chinese surveillance system: for all its obscure and sinister aura, he paints it as the work of harried bureaucrats who struggle with glitchy equipment and unproductive employeesIt adds up to a clear-eyed account of Chinas surveillance crusade. * Publishers Weekly * An instant classic, offering a peerless and encompassing explanation for a great puzzle of the twenty-first century: How did Chinas autocratic regime outlast its peers? Through painstaking research, Minxin Pei has reverse-engineered the hidden system of preventive repression, exposing a world that is essential to understanding Chinas past and, indeed, its future. -- Evan Osnos, author of the National Book Awardwinning Wildland: The Making of Americas Fury A brilliantly researched and eye-opening masterpiece on modern Chinas subtle power dynamics. Shining a light on the masterful strategy of preventive repression, Pei offers a riveting exploration of Chinas covert surveillance mechanisms. -- Yuhua Wang, author of The Rise and Fall of Imperial China: The Social Origins of State Development A timely, important book on a subject that has received little attention in Western literature. Pei offers both an illuminating analysis of the surveillance states historical evolution and a broad overview of its operations across different sectors in contemporary China. Theoretically informed and empirically rich, this is a welcome contribution. -- Lynette Ong, author of Outsourcing Repression: Everyday State Power in Contemporary China Chinas development of high-tech surveillance is crucial to understanding Beijings domestic aims and international goals, yet it is still poorly understood. Pei brings together sharp and cogent analysis with deep research to illuminate one of the most important issues of today. -- Rana Mitter, author of Chinas Good War: How World War II Is Shaping a New Nationalism An incisive analysis of a remarkably durable system of state power. Pei argues that Chinas already formidable apparatus of political control, augmented with new resources and cutting-edge technologies, has become the most effective surveillance state in history. -- Andrew G. Walder, author of Agents of Disorder: Inside Chinas Cultural Revolution
