Ren Zhongyi was criticised and struggled against no less than 2,300 times from the start of the Cultural Revolution. So many years of violent attacks against him that were enough to break lesser men merely caused Ren to strengthen his resolve and bide his time to work on what he regarded as his mission in life: to modernise the country and make it strong. Ren was so often able to balance steely determination to adopt innovative methods to get the job done with a pragmatic willingness not to be so stubborn and unbending as to alienate those who opposed him.

Ren Zhongyi: Frontline Fighter and Economic Reformer is a fascinating and moving account of this pioneer of economic reform in China, who played such an important role in transforming the southern province of Guangdong and opening up the country to the outside world.