Headline seizes Sheridan's biography of Xi Jinping

Headline Publishing Group has seized The Red Emperor: Xi Jinping And The New China by former Sunday Times Far East correspondent and China expert Michael Sheridan.

Non-fiction publisher Martin Redfern acquired world all-languages rights from James Pullen at The Wylie Agency. The book is scheduled for publication in hardback in August 2024.

The publisher describes The Red Emperor as “an accessible, revelatory biography of the enigmatic Chinese leader which takes the reader from the poor, isolated China of his youth to the military and economic superpower of today”. It continues: “Drawing on original sources and two decades of first-hand reporting, it paints a disturbing portrait of the autocrat who rules over 1.4 billion people. The book reveals how the Chinese elite groomed Xi Jinping to keep power and wealth in their own hands only to get a risk-taking dictator who will break any rival and is set to rule for life.”

Sheridan said: “Everyone has heard of Xi Jinping but almost nobody in the West knows who he really is. This book fills the gap with facts gleaned over 20 years and intimate stories from the closed world of China’s leading families. Readers will learn that behind the façade of the Communist Party there is a modern dynasty and a new emperor.”

Redfern added: “Xi Jinping’s life story is full of drama: plots, purges, murders, a power struggle and a pandemic It is rich material for Michael, who brings the history and politics of modern China to life in a series of character-driven portrayals. The book could not be more timely, and greatly enhances our understanding of this still-mysterious country at a crucial moment.”