Eureka! 17th Nov., 2010.

Back when I was in Beijing doing research on F.A. Hayek in China, one of the first articles I came across was an article on Bloomberg titled "Hayek, Once China's Poison, Is Now Its Prophet."

In it, Mr. Mukherjee wrote,

"Full of poison,'' is how a Chinese introduction described his 1944 book 'Road to Serfdom,' which was made available to high-ranking communist cadre to acquaint them with the 'enemy's' thinking, according to William McGurn in the 2000 book 'China's Future: Constructive Partner or Emerging Threat?'

I thought it was a lead, but then I did some research and found out William McGurn is not the author of the book China's Future: Constructive Partner or Emerging Threat?  (Maybe he contributed?)  I sent the author of the Bloomberg article an email, but it bounced back.

I asked an American friend of mine that works for the Atlas Economic Research Foundation.  The Atlas Economic Research Foundation is a non-profit organization "connecting a global network of free market organizations and individuals to the ideas and resources needed to advance the cause of liberty."  He said the book sounded too good to be true.

I kind of gave up looking for it.  But then during a dinner conversation with some friends from Sohu Business, one of my friends mentioned in passing that she had read The Road to Serfdom as a kid at her uncle's house.  He was a lawyer high up in the party, so he had access to a lot of material.  She laughed, and said every sentence had a sentence following it, explaining why the previous sentence was wrong.

I then asked Professor Feng, at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, if he knew of it.  He said he had it somewhere, but "had a lot of books."

Today I found out it exists.  I was searching for the Chinese name I was used to "通往奴役之路" ("To lead to the road of slavery").  It turns out the name is "通向奴役的道路" (Leading to slavery's road.)