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Description
FiiO SP5 High-fidelity active desktop speakersDescription FiiO SP5 are high fidelity active desktop speakers designed for discerning listeners who want a spacious soundstage and excellent sound quality in a compact form factor. These all in one speakers can be used for near field listening at a desk, in a home studio, or as part of a home hi fi system. Get this amazing speakers now from the official dealer of FiiO in Bangladesh, Gears for Ears today with an official 1 year warranty. 5. 25 inch
Description
FiiO SP5 are high-fidelity active desktop speakers designed for discerning listeners who want a spacious soundstage and excellent sound quality in a compact form factor. These all-in-one speakers can be used for near-field listening at a desk, in a home studio, or as part of a home hi-fi system. Get this amazing speakers now from the official dealer of FiiO in Bangladesh, Gears for Ears today with an official 1 year warranty.
- 5.25-inch composite fiber woofer
- 1-inch composite silk dome tweeter
- Independent 120W power supplies for main and satellite speakers
- Quadruple independent output power 60W* 2 + 20 W*2
- Various audio inputs including XLR
- Low-noise, high-precision electronic volume control
- Supports high-resolution Bluetooth codecs, including LDAC/aptX Adaptive
- Two-stage bass and treble control and two options for extending the low frequency range
- Remote control support via the FiiO Control app
- Ten-band -PEQ
- Includes two high-quality oxygen-free copper power cables from Furukawa
All-in-one active speaker for your desk
Audiophile sound, packed with features, perfect for a variety of applications Following the success of the SP3, the SP5 was designed for discerning listeners who want a spacious soundstage and excellent sound quality. It features larger professional drivers that deliver more power and enable precise frequency tuning.
The SP5 is no longer limited to your desk. It integrates seamlessly into your existing setup, creating a complete home hi-fi system. Whether you're enjoying music, immersing yourself in a movie in your living room, enjoying audiovisual entertainment in your study, or doing professional audio editing, the SP5 delivers a breathtakingly spacious soundstage that provides a captivating listening experience for every listening experience.
5.25-inch “Continuum” composite fiber woofer for deep and powerful bass
The SP5 features a 5.25-inch woofer with a diaphragm made from a similar “Continuum” composite fiber material as used in the legendary B&W 700 series. To achieve incredible sound even in larger rooms, FiiO has carefully refined every detail of the driver, from the diaphragm material to the magnetic circuit system, the driver suspension, and the voice coil.
This careful construction ensures outstanding rigidity and control, allowing the SP5 to reproduce intense, dynamic music without the slightest distortion. The result is deep and powerful bass for a rich, full-bodied sound that is both precise and responsive. Every little detail is reproduced accurately and impressively.
Linear composite fiber diaphragm
This diaphragm has excellent durability and strength, which prevents breakup at high power and keeps distortion in the playback frequency range below 1%.
Symmetrical magnetic circuit
Provides a magnetic field strength of more than 1.2 Tesla. Large-diameter, long-throw voice coil A large 30 mm long-throw voice coil, rare in its class, reduces moving mass so it can move enough to deliver powerful, dynamic reproduction.
NBR rubber suspension
Its high flexibility and fatigue resistance, as well as its spiral grooved design, prevent nonlinear distortion in music with strong impulses.
*Want your speakers to perform at their best faster? We recommend playing music continuously for about 48 hours (“break-in”). After that, you will find that the sound is even more pleasant.
1-inch soft silk dome composite tweeter for clear and smooth highs
The SP5 tweeter is not only made of high-quality materials, but is also acoustically perfect in design. The FiiO development team has developed an innovative soft, hemispherical structure inside the dome that precisely absorbs harmful harmonics from the rear of the diaphragm. The result is significantly purer and more transparent highs.
To achieve the high-end hi-fi goals of low resonance and high power handling, the SP5 features a groundbreaking large cavity design on the rear. This innovative design makes it possible to lower the high frequencies to an impressive 800 Hz. It also ensures that the driver can relieve pressure even at frequencies above 20 kHz, which drastically reduces unwanted resonances.
Cooling technology for the tweeter magnet circuit
The SP5's high-frequency reproduction reaches a new level of sophistication, becoming silky smooth and pleasantly fluid. It effortlessly brings out every subtle detail in your music.
The SP5's tweeter uses a precisely engineered waveguide to optimize near-field listening. It precisely controls the direction of sound and, together with the horizontal stripes on the front, significantly expands the soundstage.
*Cooling technology for the tweeter magnetic circuit – a cooling and damping system with magnetic fluid for a better extended and resolved high frequency range.
Independent 120W power supplies
Ensure that the main and secondary speakers have ample power without interfering with each other. FiiO's self-developed high-performance switching power supply delivers a robust 120W of power to each SP5 speaker.
Thanks to these ample power reserves, the speakers can effortlessly reproduce any type of dynamic music, while universal voltage support allows you to take your speakers anywhere. A clean power supply is essential for true high-fidelity sound. The SP5 uses a multi-stage rectification and filter architecture to independently power the output stage, significantly reducing interference.
A revolutionary transformer resonance system converts a single power source into a dual symmetrical power supply, providing clean, stable energy to the critical front-end circuits. This design eliminates DC-DC noise at the source, resulting in an excellent signal-to-noise ratio and a darker background with clearer details. The intelligent power-saving mode* has been carefully designed for energy efficiency and features extremely low standby power consumption. The speakers activate instantly when music playback begins and are always ready to deliver breathtaking sound.
*Energy-saving mode is enabled by default and features an automatic standby and activation function. You can disable this feature in the app if you do not want the device to automatically enter standby mode.
60 W*2+20 W*2 independent four-way power
Precise and powerful energy transfer
The SP5's main and secondary speakers each contain a renowned Texas Instruments (TI) TPA3116D2 Class D digital stereo amplifier that drives each channel independently. The amplifiers enable an output power of up to 60 W*2 for the woofers and up to 20 W*2 for the tweeters.
The TPA3116D2 is also designed for reliability and features built-in protection against short circuits, overheating, and voltage fluctuations. In the event of an overload, the processor is alerted to prevent damage.
XLR balanced input
Pro audio DNA
The balanced XLR interface is widely used in professional audio equipment. Compared to standard RCA jacks, its main advantage is high noise immunity, making it ideal for long-distance transmission while delivering a higher-quality audio signal.
The SP5 features a professional balanced XLR input. It uses three-pin differential transmission, where hot (+) and cold (-) signals are sent simultaneously. The special ground cable blocks external interference, eliminating over 90% of common-mode interference. This completely eliminates interference even when transmitting signals over long distances.
*If the main speaker uses the XLR input, the secondary speaker can only use the XLR input.
**When using the XLR input, RCA audio cables are not required.
***The XLR input supports both XLR3 and TRS 6.35.
****The XLR input supports independent volume control.
Low-noise, high-precision electronic volume control
Equipped with a robust composite encoder and a precise core
The SP5 uses the high-precision, low-noise NJW1195A electronic volume control in each speaker. This volume control features an electronic potentiometer with a resistive ladder that has low imbalance and low output noise of typically -118 dBV (1.26 µVrms). It also features an extremely low distortion rate of only 0.0003%. The wide volume range from +31.5 dB to -95 dB can be adjusted in fine steps of 0.5 dB, enabling precise volume control.
By using a chip typically found in high-end headphone amplifiers and combining it with carefully tuned circuits, the SP5 achieves a signal-to-noise ratio of 100 dB.
Bluetooth version V5.1
Supports high-resolution Bluetooth codecs for excellent wireless sound
The SP5 is powered by a Qualcomm QCC5125 Bluetooth chip, which offers 24-bit audio processing and advanced DSP for an enhanced listening experience. It supports multiple Bluetooth codecs, including SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX LL, aptX HD, LDAC, and aptX Adaptive, enabling high-quality wireless sound.
The SP5 can transmit audio wirelessly at up to 990 kbps, allowing you to enjoy detailed wireless sound. Thanks to its high-resolution capabilities and LDAC support, it has received both Hi-Res Audio and Hi-Res Wireless Audio certification.
Supports two-stage bass and treble adjustment, as well as two options for extending the low frequency range
50 Hz/60 Hz setting for extending the low frequency range
Conventional 5.25-inch passive speakers often struggle to reproduce sounds below 55 Hz. The bass extension function overcomes this limitation by utilizing technologies that go beyond the physical limitations of the hardware. A special circuit extends the frequency response in the low frequency range, providing stronger bass, faster transients, and a deeper sound stage, all of which result in richer, deeper, and more layered bass.
When listening to music, you can choose how deep you want the bass extension to go to suit different music genres. For movies and games, bass extension can enhance the impact of the bass for an even more immersive experience.
-2 dB/0 dB/+2 dB Treble Adjustment
+2 dB: This setting boosts the high frequencies to improve the presence and detail of the sound. For example, when mixing, using +2 dB makes it easier to hear the subtle details in each track. This is ideal for music genres where high frequency clarity is crucial, such as string and electronic music.
-2 dB: This setting reduces the energy of the high frequencies to prevent the sound from becoming shrill or hissing. This is ideal for listening to classical music or any other music that requires a natural sound, or in any environment where you need to reduce unwanted reflections.
0 dB/+3 dB/+6 dB Bass Adjustment The bass boost function amplifies frequencies below 100 Hz for richer, more impressive bass. It can also be used to reduce interference from room standing waves and balance the sound. At the same time, this feature can solve the problem of muffled bass in small rooms and also deliver the powerful sound required for larger rooms.
Supports remote control via the FiiO Control app, ten-band PEQ
For an even better listening experience, the FiiO SP5 offers precise control via the FiiO Control app. Once connected via Bluetooth, you can use the app to manage your input source, Bluetooth codec, RGB lighting, and power saving settings.
You can also use the app for advanced sound adjustments. Fine-tune the sound by adjusting the frequency response curve with a 10-band PEQ based on FiiO's proprietary algorithms.
Housing made of 650°C liquid aluminum of aviation quality, manufactured using a die-casting process that significantly reduces resonance
Each SP5 speaker enclosure is made from a single 10 kg block of aluminum, melted and cast at 650°C. This state-of-the-art metalworking pushes the boundaries of acoustic physics.
• The high-density aluminum is 300% stiffer than MDF wood enclosures. Combined with a uniform inner wall structure, unwanted resonances are significantly suppressed.
• A precision manufacturing process reduces the weight of the enclosure by 30%, from 10 kg to 7 kg. This allows for a larger internal volume in a smaller speaker, which improves low-frequency performance.
• Natural heat sink: The aluminum naturally dissipates heat, ensuring stable performance at high power levels.
• Electromagnetic shielding: The metal shell provides electromagnetic shielding for clearer sound.
Diffuser-shaped horizontal stripes and a curved cabinet structure that prevents standing waves effectively eliminate unwanted vibrations. The dimensions of the SP5 cabinet have been carefully calculated to prevent standing waves, and the drivers are angled for perfect phase alignment. In addition, the smooth, rounded edges minimize sound diffraction. The result is a flat frequency response and exceptional sound imaging.
The diffuser-shaped horizontal stripes on the surface of the cabinet are not just for looks. Each one is precisely placed to serve as structural reinforcement and make the cabinet resistant to strong vibrations. Together with the curved anti-standing wave structure, unwanted resonances are effectively eliminated.
Two high-quality oxygen-free copper power cables from Furukawa are included to ensure a pure power supply
To ensure a pure power supply, the SP5 comes with two Furukawa power cables made of oxygen-free copper, which are manufactured from the same materials as the separately available LAC-03.
Furukawa oxygen-free copper conductor, 3 x 1.5 mm² conductor cross-section
24-karat gold-plated plug, flexible PVC cable sheathing
Connection interfaces
- XLR input
- RCA input
- Audio output
- AUX input
- Low frequency gain adjustment
- TRIGGER IN input
- Low frequency extension adjustment
- Ground switch
- High frequency gain adjustment
- Channel switch
- USB input
- Power connection
- Data transfer connection
- Power switch
- Audio input
Specifications
- Model: SP5
- Product type: Active desktop speakers
- Enclosure material: Die-cast aluminum alloy
- Colors: Black/white
- Dimensions
- Main speaker: Approx. 170 (W) x 185 (D) x 280 (H) mm (including feet)
- Auxiliary speaker: approx. 170 (width) x 185 (depth) x 280 mm (height) (including feet)
- Weight Main speaker: approx. 6.01 kg
- Additional speaker: approx. 5.94 kg
- Total weight of speakers including packaging: approx. 15 kg
- Bluetooth chip: QCC5125
- Supported Bluetooth codecs: SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX LL, aptX HD, LDAC, aptX
- Adaptive Crossover: Active electronic two-way crossover, 3.1 kHz crossover frequency
- Driver size: Woofer: 5.25 inches (6 Ω)
- Tweeter: 1 inch (8 Ω)
- Diaphragm material Woofer: Composite carbon fiber cone woofer made from a material similar to the “Continuum” used in the premium B&W 700 series
- Tweeter: Composite silk dome tweeter
- Max. sound pressure level: 104 dB
- Frequency response: 65 Hz–20 kHz (standard mode), 50 Hz–20 kHz (bass boost + extension enabled)
- Acoustic port: Horn-shaped, rear-facing bass reflex port
- Output power woofer: 60 W*2 Tweeter: 20 W*2
- Treble adjustment: -2 dB/0 dB/+2 dB, main and sub speakers use the same synchronized setting
- Bass control: 0 dB/+3 dB/+6 dB, main and sub speakers use the same synchronized setting
- Low-frequency extension control: 50 Hz/60 Hz, main and secondary speakers use the same synchronized setting
- Audio inputs: XLR IN, RCA IN, AUX IN, USB IN, BT IN
- Audio input indicator - Violet: XLR, Blue: RCA, Green: AUX, Orange: USB Bluetooth codec indicator SBC: Blue, AAC: cyan, aptX/aptX LL: purple, aptX HD: yellow, LDAC: white, aptX Adaptive: green
- The RGB light flashes red and blue in pairing mode.
- Once connected, the color corresponding to the currently used codec pulses.
- USB input Up to 96 kHz/24 bit
What`s in the box
- Main speaker*1
- Secondary speaker*1
- Power cable*2
- RJ45 data cable*1
- RCA audio cable*1
- RCA to 3.5 mm audio input cable*1
- Remote control*1 (requires 2 AAA batteries)
- Quick start guide*1
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4.5 ★★★★★
Based on 19 reviews
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Product Reviews
★★★★★ 5
An excellent introduction
Dr. Richard Wolff has a gift for simplifying complex material, distilling it down to its essence, and delivering it in a winsome manner. His gifts are on display here, for Karl Marx is a hard read. And yet, after reading this introduction, it is possible to catch a glimpse of hitherto unseen trains of Kark Marx's thought. After reading this introduction, it is clear that Marxism is not the same thing as Communism, or Socialism, or Fascism. Marxism is nothing more than an analysis and critique of Capitalism. That analysis and critique is used by many for their own purposes, purposes that have only a tenuous relationship to the source material.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 24, 2020
★★★★★ 5
Marxism summarized
Not having read much of Marx’s writing I found this work to be an interesting summary of Marx’s thought and objectives. This work provides a different understanding of Marx and his objectives compared to what I have heard of Marxism both when Marx’s work is referenced in theoretical contexts and (supposedly) put into practice.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 4, 2022
★★★★★ 5
Facts
Format: Paperback
Very good short book
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Reviewed in the United States on August 1, 2025
★★★★★ 5
Little Giant
Format: Paperback
“Did any other leader in the twentieth century do more to improve the lives of so many? Did any other twentieth-century leader have such a large and lasting influence on world history?” This is how Ezra Vogel concludes his massive 700-page tome, “Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China.” Indeed, who else in history has raised more people out of poverty? There may be no definitively right answer, but Vogel makes a convincing case that Deng Xiaoping has a better claim than anyone else.
While lengthy, this book is an easy read and provides fascinating insights and lots of detail on how Deng and his forward-thinking policies turned China from a backward, poverty stricken basket case in the wake of the disastrous Cultural Revolution to an economic superpower in a single generation. It has been a revolution every bit as astonishing and impactful to world history as the Japanese Meiji Restoration of the late nineteenth century.
Vogel’s narrative focuses mainly on the years from Mao’s death in 1976 to Deng’s retirement in 1992. Deng’s quite eventful first 65 years of life are covered in just 45 pages; China’s dramatic growth over the two decades since his retirement receive a mere 20 pages of attention. This book could have been called the “Deng Restoration,” the decade-and-a-half period when the Chinese leader blazed a new path, normalizing Chinese foreign relations and assiduously laying the political and economic groundwork for China’s improbably rapid rise from a self-isolated Third World Country into a global leader in manufacturing and burgeoning superpower just beginning to stretch its legs and demand its rightful place in the sun, to paraphrase Bismark.
What struck me most about Deng’s leadership and policies, besides their remarkable success, was their consistency – and authority. His power was strictly personal, not positional; Deng was never chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, nor Premier of the Chinese government. Rather, he was something else, the “preeminent leader,” officially only vice chairman of the party and chairman of the Central Military Commission. Aging and hard of hearing, he rarely attended Politburo meetings. Yet, “it is doubtful that anyone [other than Deng] had the combination of authority, depth and breadth of experience, strategic sense, assurance, personal relationships, and political judgment needed to manage China’s transformation with comparable success,” Vogel writes. When he came to power in the late 1970s, he had very firm ideas on what needed to be done, plans that Vogel claims matured in Deng’s mind during his long and humiliating five year exile in Jiangxi working at a tractor factory during the Cultural Revolution.
First, stability and unity were paramount in Deng’s plans, according to Vogel. He knew that the economic transformation China must go through would be wrenching and tumultuous, and he believed that only the Communist Party, with its discipline and order, could effectively manage the change. He had to maintain a delicate balance between encouraging innovative thinking and freedom of expression while maintaining the unquestioned rule of the Communist Party. In 1978, Deng formulated the Four Cardinal Principles, essentially four red lines that could not be crossed in China (socialist path; dictatorship of the proletariat; leadership of the Communist Party; Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought), and he never waivered from them. In fact, his most controversial and unpopular decision – the military crackdown at Tiananmen Square in 1989 – was taken precisely because the protests were openly challenging the Four Cardinal Principles. Although he was an ambitious reformer, he was a Communist first-and-foremost. When his two top lieutenants and official heads of party and state, respectively, Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang, were seen as going soft on dissidents, he had them unceremoniously cashiered. It was the outpouring of love for Hu at his death in 1989, along with frustration at how he had been treated by Deng and the Party, that sparked the Tiananmen protests, a movement that became truly dangerous when Zhao resigned rather than acquiesce to Deng’s call for martial law.
Second, vast improvements in science, technology and education would be the cornerstone of Deng’s policies. Vogel describes Deng as obsessed with the importance of education and the critical role in advanced technology in China’s future. At roughly the same time that Deng formulated the Four Cardinal Principles to guide political discussion in China, he also developed the Four Modernizations, the areas in which the government would concentrate efforts to learn, grow and improve: 1) science and technology; 2) industry; 3) agriculture; and 4) defense. Again, Deng and the Chinese government remained steadfast in pursuing these objectives even when they led in politically sensitive directions, such as dropping class background from college admission criteria and instead relying solely on meritocratic entrance exams; encouraging thousands of students to study overseas, especially in Western countries, exposing them to potential “dangerous” ideas; establishing special economic zones (SEZ) along the coast to promote capitalist investment and trade, even though they encouraged graft and corruption; and the dramatic downsizing of the People’s Liberation Army to create a more highly educated and technologically savvy armed forces. “Deng was unique in that he pushed doors open far wider – to foreign ideas, foreign technology, and foreign capital – than his predecessors, and he presided over the difficult process of expanding the opening despite the disruptions it caused,” Vogel writes.
Third, Deng was adamant that China must be fully engaged in world affairs. He was very much his own foreign policy strategist and built his policies around a few basic objectives. Above all, Soviet expansion must be stoutly resisted. Deng went to war – “Deng’s War,” Vogel says – with communist neighbor Vietnam in 1979 to “teach Hanoi a lesson.” Namely, that China refused to allow Vietnam to become a hegemonic power in Southeast Asia while serving as the Soviet’s “Cuba in the East.” China’s month-long invasion captured five northern Vietnamese provincial capitals at the cost of 25,000 PLA soldiers killed in action, according to Vogel (that is, China lost half as many men in one month in Vietnam as the US did in a decade!). Next, Deng sought to normalize and improve relations with the Western world, an objective he largely achieved, although the backlash from Tiananmen Square was sharp and prolonged. Finally, Deng desperately wanted to consolidate Chinese territory in his lifetime, achieving peace and stability in Tibet, reintegrating Hong Kong, and, most important of all, reunifying with Taiwan. The last goal was one of Deng’s great disappointments, although he did successfully prevent the Reagan administration from formally recognizing Taiwan and worked to reduce arms shipments to the island nation. “Under Deng’s leadership,” the author writes, “China truly joined the world community, becoming an active part of international organizations and of the global system of trade, finance, and relations among citizens of all walks of life.”
Finally, Deng was a political virtuoso, albeit of a distinctly communist variety. Deng was well-described by US Secretary of State Cyrus Vance as “remarkable… impatient, feisty, self-confidently outspoken, direct, forceful, and clever.” Standing just five-feet-tall, with limited formal education and a lifelong habit of using a spittoon even when negotiating directly with world leaders in the West, Deng was nevertheless a man of immense natural ability and innate political instincts. Unlike the “mercurial” Mao, who Vogel describes as “ranked high among world leaders” in megalomania and lust for power, Deng was personally humble, wanting nothing more than to serve his country and then be forgotten. Upon his death, he donated his corneas for eye research, his internal organs to medical science, was cremated and had his ashes scattered into the sea. There would be no “Cult of Deng” if he had anything to say about it.
A deeply and sincerely committed communist, he was nevertheless open-minded and had no use for communist dogma. He was highly opposed to Mao’s revolutionary radicalism, yet sensitive to charges of being the “Chinese Khrushchev.” He quickly worked to overthrow the so-called “Gang of Four” after Mao’s death, but steadfastly espoused a flexible, results oriented approach to reform. “It doesn’t matter if the cat is black or white, just so long as it catches mice,” he liked to say. He used his liberal approach to outmaneuver and then oust Mao’s handpicked successor, the middle-aged cipher Hua Goufeng, who stumbled badly in 1977 when he penned an editorial claiming that future policy “will resolutely uphold whatever policy decisions Chairman Mao made, and unswervingly follow whatever instructions Chairman Mao gave” (the so-called “Two Whatevers”). Deng had different ideas – and they would prevail.
Although he a had clear vision for where China should go conceptually, Deng honestly admitted that he had to “grope for stones as he crossed the river” the entire time, never knowing for certain which approach was best, but always open to learning-by-doing. “Don’t argue, just push ahead,” was a favorite mantra. His SEZ experiment at Shenzhen was controversial, but ultimately successful beyond anyone’s wildest expectations. And unlike Dahzai, Mao’s experimental ideal collective community, Chinese leaders and others flocked to Shenzhen out of genuine interest rather than political expediency.
Twenty-first century China is Deng’s China. If the sun is setting on the American century and rising in the East, no one man had more to do with it than Deng Xiaoping, a man Vogel believes may be one of the greatest men in his nation’s long history. “The transition from a predominantly rural to a predominantly urban society and the spread of common national culture are among the most fundamental changes that have occurred in Chinese history since the country’s unification in 221 BC,” Vogel declares, and it was mainly the work of one little, unassuming man from a small village in Szechuan.
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Reviewed in the United States on August 12, 2014
★★★★★ 5
An important biography of one of the major figures in China's transformation
Format: Paperback
A wonderful biography of Deng Xiaoping. There is more emphasis on the later as opposed to earlier years of his life. He was a survivor, having been purged twice by Chairman Mao Zedong. But Mao was not to be finished with Deng--keeping him on the backburner in case he needed his skills later on.
The book provides background for his ultimate leadership of China. Deng was "taken down" during the Cultural Revolution, an enormous upheaval of Chinese society orchestrated by Mao. Deng and his family were essentially "exiled." When the time came for Mao to recall him and address excesses of the Cultural Revolution, Deng was slowly put back into harness for a short period of time. The time came when, again, Mao began to distrust Deng and even put the cold shoulder to Zhou Enlai, Mao's long time lieutenant. After a brief exile, Deng was again readmitted into a leadership role.
The book then goes on to outline how, through political acumen and skills at coalition building, slowly became the # 1 leader, leaving Mao's successor out of power. The book has several areas where it explores Deng's career as leader. His role in upgrading the state of science and education is one focal point. There is a nice discussion of his reaching out to other countries to bring China up to speed in modernizing its economy, its military, and so on. The book also considers economic his economic policies, as Deng tried to jump start China's economy, based on fairly rapid growth (with the risk of inflation). His tactics to do this are described well. There is also discussion of his role in the military. He knew that the army was too large, too many senior officers had outlived their usefulness, and the war technology was not up to modern armies. How he was able to make progress in these (and other) sectors is fascinating.
The book also addresses what appear to be some difficult choices that suggest some problematic decision making by Deng. His invasion of Vietnam is portrayed by Deng as a major factor in addressing Vietnam's aggressiveness. I think that the book's author might have had a somewhat more critical take on this event. Too, there is Deng's decision to bring the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to Beijing to put down the Tienanmen Square protests.
After his retirement, his successors became, in Deng's mind, too cautious with the economy. There is a fascinating tale told of how he used his political skills to get China on a pathway toward more rapid growth. It shows Deng as a wily political figure, who even in his eighties could bend events toward his desires.
All in all, a detailed biography, overall well done, of one of the most important figures in the late 20th century. The book might have been even better with a more critical assessment of Deng's work at some points. Still and all, an important work.
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Reviewed in the United States on August 9, 2015