China's Economic Development and Democratization Book

This book describes a six week tour in 1960 of Communinst China that Pierre Trudeau, Jacques Hébert and three other prominent intellectuals from the province Quebec made as guests of the Chinese government. The Chinese were anxious to promote the idea that they were opening up to the west and were a progressive society. Hébert and Trudeau's book was a very left-handed thank-you. It has a sympathetic but condescending attitude towards their hosts. At the same time it is filled with gripes about how closely they were supervised and stories of how they at times eluded their hosts in an effort to see things that were not on the agenda.
Ultimately the book tells the reader a great deal about Trudeau and Hébert but virtually nothing about China. Micheline Legendre who was one of the five on the tour wrote a scathing review that appeared in Liberté late in 1961. She begins by noting that the title itself is indicative of the problem. "Two innocents in China! Are they not simply admitting that they knew nothing about China and were not up to the subject that they were writing about. They would have been better to remain silent and not write this book."
Next she attacks their arrogant tone saying that her one great wish is that no one either in China or Canada consider Trudeau and Hebert as speaking on their behalf: "Je n'accepte pas ce ton badin. ... je ne veux pas qu'ils soient considérés comme mes porte-paroles."
She then criticizes Trudeau and Hébert for essentially writing about nothing except themselves and their school-boy pranks: "Il vont en Chine pour nous raconter quoi? Leurs escapades de collégiens. ... Ils accaparent trop le premier plan." Effectively Trudeau and Hébert were practicing what a later generation would call "Gonzo" journalism in which the reporter's actions become the news.
Two innocents in China is a ghastly bookwritten by two outstanding intelllectuals . Both would do great things as cabinet ministers. Trudeau of course would become Prime Minister. However, in this dismal little book we do indeed as Legendre asserts seeing only two grown men acting like naughty secondary school students.