The Anaconda in the Chandelier: Writings on China

"This book is a manifestation of Perry Link’s deep love for the Chinese people, their humor, struggles, and courage. Anaconda in the Chandelier is packed with a deep understanding of China, astute observations of Chinese society, and unrelenting criticism of the Communist Party, all stemming from Link’s devotion to one thing: truth. If you want to understand why the West got China wrong and how to get it right in the ongoing rivalry between democracy and autocracy, you need to read it."

—Li Yuan, The New York Times

"The Anaconda in the Chandelier is a work of well-crafted essays that go down easy on first reading, then beguile us into protracted contemplation of the deep structure of contemporary China and the modern world."

—Modern Chinese Literature & Culture

These acerbic essays, collected from Perry Link’s decades-long career as a noted Sinologist, reveal the depth of his attachment to China and his willingness to squarely face unpleasant truths about the many ways in which ordinary Chinese people have suffered from the self-serving, erratic, and often disastrous “leadership” of the Communist Party of China.

Link's essays touch on politics, society, economy, literature, and art, but their primary focus is on the thoughts, feelings, and values of Chinese people. He lays out his values as he explains how, like many of his Chinese friends, he began with a naïve attraction to socialist ideals only to eventually feel disgust at the cynical betrayal of not only those ideals but even garden-variety ethics. His writing probes the ways “comrades” in the ruling regime have ruthlessly clung to and pursued the one value whose pre-eminence has never been in question: political power.

The Anaconda in the Chandelier includes essays on Link’s “day job” interests in Chinese literature, popular culture, and language teaching at Princeton University. He also offers intellectual tribute to his teachers—both classroom teachers and several whose writing taught him how to see beneath the surfaces of things.