　　Foreigners under Mao: Western Lives in China, 1949&ndash;1976 is a pioneering study of the Western community during the turbulent Mao era. Based largely on personal interviews, memoirs, private letters, and archives, this book &lsquo;gives a voice&rsquo; to the Westerners who lived under Mao. It shows that China was not as closed to Western residents as has often been portrayed.<br />
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　　The book examines the lives of six different groups of Westerners: &lsquo;foreign comrades&rsquo; who made their home in Mao&rsquo;s China, twenty-two former Korean War POWs who controversially chose China ahead of repatriation, diplomats of Western countries that recognized the People&rsquo;s Republic, the few foreign correspondents permitted to work in China, &lsquo;foreign experts&rsquo;, and language students. Each of these groups led distinct lives under Mao, while sharing the experience of a highly politicized society and of official measures to isolate them from everyday China.