In The People's Republic of Amnesia, Lim, a former China correspondent for NPR and the BBC, profiles a number of individuals who were involved in and/or affected by the Chinese government's violent crackdown on anti-government protesters in 1989. She also describes how the Chinese government has tried to induce a sort of "amnesia" among the Chinese people about the events that fateful year. In The Party, McGregor, former China bureau chief for The Financial Times, provides a detailed overview of the inner workings of the Chinese Communist Party. He describes the relationships of the Party with the state, state-owned corporations, the private sector, the military, and China's regions. He also discusses how the Party oversees its own members, deals with the problem of official corruption, and even attempts to shape history to its own benefit.
One common theme in both books is the power the Communist Party has over the lives of individuals in China. In the United States and other democracies, it is possible to live one's life without being much involved with or affected by a political party, but in China, this is impossible--the Party can never be totally escaped. For example, in The People's Republic of Amnesia, Lim introduces us to a number of individuals whose lives were devastated by the actions of the Party, like the "Tiananmen Mothers" Zhang Xianling and Ding Zilin, whose teenaged sons were both shot to death by People's Liberation Army soldiers during the 1989 crackdown in Beijing. McGregor tells us about Yang Jisheng, a journalist whose father died of famine in 1959--a famine caused by incredibly inept policies of the Communist Party.
Another common theme is how the Chinese Communist Party has tried to cover up its misdeeds. In her book, Lim describes not only how the Party has tried to obscure the well-known events of 1989 in Beijing, but also the efforts of local authorities in the southwestern city of Chengdu to cover up its violent crackdown on local antigovernment demonstrations in 1989. In The Party, McGregor devotes much of one chapter to describing how the journalist Yang Jisheng attempted to uncover the truth about the famine in which his father--and 35-40 million (!) fellow Chinese--died.
A final common thread in the two books is the incredible cruelty that the Communist Party has sometimes engaged in. Perhaps one anecdote from The People's Republic of Amnesia will serve to illustrate this.
Zhang Xianling's son was hit by a bullet as soldiers opened fire on civilians in Beijing on June 4, 1989. Soldiers refused to allow doctors to try to save the young man's life, and he consequently bled to death. They buried his body in a shallow grave in a flowerbed in front of a school. After a few days, there was a stench and the young man's body was exhumed and eventually cremated. A number of years later, Zhang "managed to hold her own small remembrance at the exact spot...where her son had died" (p. 120). However, she was never able to repeat that act. This is because:
A closed-circuit camera has been installed near the school's entrance, trained on the exact spot where her son's body was exhumed from the flowerbed beside the school gate. It is a camera dedicated to her alone, waiting for her in case she should every try again to mourn her dead son. (p. 121).
Apparently, it was not enough for the Party to take her son's life. It is not even willing that she should have the opportunity to mourn her loss. This sort of cruelty is what happens when human beings reject God (remember that the Chinese Communists are militant atheists) and succumb to their innate sinfulness. Nevertheless, as a Christian, I believe in a Judge who will one day make sure that no injustice like this shall stand.
All in all, I highly recommend both Lim's and McGregor's books. They provide readers with great insights into modern China.