Frances Yaping Wang's "The Art of State Persuasion"

Frances Yaping Wang is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Colgate University. She received her PhD in politics from the University of Virginia. She was previously an assistant professor at the Singapore Management University, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Notre Dame's International Security Center, a Minerva-United State Institute of Peace (USIP) Peace Scholar, a predoctoral fellow at the Institute for Security and Conflict Studies of the George Washington University, and an editor/analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Wang applied the "Page 99 Test" to her new book, The Art of State Persuasion: China's Strategic Use of Media in Interstate Disputes, and reported the following:

Page 99 delves into China’s hardline foreign policy through a detailed case study of the 1979 Sino-Vietnamese border war. Drawing on archival sources and historical data, it provides a concise overview of China’s internal decision-making process leading up to the conflict.

While this page offers a rich, granular analysis of a significant historical event, it is perhaps too specific to serve as an introduction to the broader themes of the book. In fact, any page from the introduction would better capture the book’s overarching ideas than page 99. Page 99 is just one part of a larger theoretical framework, which is illustrated through four distinct case studies. These case studies, each representing different scenarios, are integral to the book’s argument. The 1979 Sino-Vietnamese border war is the only historical case among them, distinguished by its rich historical context and its exploration of one of the most extensive propaganda campaigns in Chinese history—a campaign that spanned a decade and remains one of the most remarkable feats of the Chinese propaganda machinery.

While page 99 effectively showcases the meticulous use of evidence, including quotes from recently declassified documents, it is but a small window into the book’s broader narrative. Beyond this historical case, the book also employs advanced computerized text analysis to compare various types of propaganda campaigns, drawing insightful comparisons between Chinese propaganda and that of other authoritarian regimes. In sum, while page 99 provides a fascinating and detailed glimpse into a crucial historical case, capturing the depth of analysis and the rigorous use of evidence, it offers only a narrow perspective on the book’s wider argument. For those looking to grasp the full scope and intent of the book, the introduction would provide a far better entry point.

Visit Frances Yaping Wang's website.

--Marshal Zeringue