Two Kinds of Truth

Liu Binyan left school after ninth grade for lack of tuition money. He continued to read, taught himself Russian, joined the Communist Party underground in 1943, and eventually emerged as 20th-century China's leading investigative journalist.Perry Link is Professor of East Asian Studies at Princeton University. His most recent book is The Uses of Literature: Life in the Socialist Chinese Literary System.

"In People or Monsters? Liu develops a very perceptive analysis of the communist system where the monopoly of the Party allows cadres to establish networks through which they enact absolute power, ending up in absolute corruption . . . By republishing this anthology, Perry Link helps attract attention to this writer who played such an important role in the 1980s and who, to this day, has not found a successor in China."—China Quarterly". . . These historic pieces illuminate China's present social dyspepsia, beyond all differences between socialism and capitalism. . . . Highly recommended. All readers; all levels."—Choice

• Editor's NoteAn Interview with Liu BinyanPerry LinkPart I. Speech to the Congress of Literature and Art WorkersListen Carefully to the Voice of the PeopleTranslated by Kyna RubinPart II. ReportagePeople or Monsters?Translated by James V. FeinermanSound Is Better than SilenceTranslated by Michael S. DukeThe Second Kind of LoyaltyTranslated By Richard W. BodmanReport on a Void InvestigationTranslated by Perry LinkPart III. FictionWarningTranslated by Madelyn RossThe Fifth Man in the OvercoatTranslated by John S. RohsenowPart IV. Review EssaysAn Unnatural DisasterTranslated by Perry LinkA Great Leap Backward?Translated by Perry LinkContributors