CHINESE SOCIETY: Change, Conflict and Resistance, edited by Elizabeth J. Perry and Mark Selden. London, Routledge, 2000, 249 pp., $27.99. A single image dominates Western perceptions of the regime in China since the Tiananmen massacre of 1989: that of a government willing to crack down mercilessly on any protest or resistance. This image has been reinforced by the recent confrontation between the government and the practitioners of Falun Gong. According to this picture, Chinese citizens are trapped by an ever-watchful and inflexible dictatorship.