Journalist and historian of
China who went from admiring the regime to being one of its sternest criticsJonathan Mirsky, who has died aged 88, was a prominent
American historian of China who switched to journalism and won the international reporter of the year title in the 1989
British Press Awards for his coverage in the Observer of the Tiananmen uprising.
Getting the story had been a bloody experience. Armed Chinese
police gave him a severe beating when they discovered he was a journalist. He was lucky to be rescued by a colleague from the Financial Times who led him away, his left arm fractured and three teeth knocked out.