Book contents
- Eyes and Ears
- Eyes and Ears
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Preface
- Part IAgent Recruitment
- Part IICapacity Building
- Part IIIBest Practice
- Part IVFrom the Agent Work File
- Part VFrom the Agent Personal File
- Introduction
- 14Operational Brief: On the Recruitment of Yang X
- 15Yang X’s Offer of Service
- 16Private Correspondence Monitored
- 17Give and Take: Apologies and a Nanny
- 18Agent Validation: Professional and ‘Leftist’
- 19Declining Performance? A Two-Day Brush-Up Course
- Part VIComponent Chiefs: Feedback and Direction
- Part VIICrisis Management
- Glossary
- Notes
- Index
18 - Agent Validation: Professional and ‘Leftist’
from Part V - From the Agent Personal File
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2026
Book contents
- Eyes and Ears
- Eyes and Ears
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Preface
- Part IAgent Recruitment
- Part IICapacity Building
- Part IIIBest Practice
- Part IVFrom the Agent Work File
- Part VFrom the Agent Personal File
- Introduction
- 14Operational Brief: On the Recruitment of Yang X
- 15Yang X’s Offer of Service
- 16Private Correspondence Monitored
- 17Give and Take: Apologies and a Nanny
- 18Agent Validation: Professional and ‘Leftist’
- 19Declining Performance? A Two-Day Brush-Up Course
- Part VIComponent Chiefs: Feedback and Direction
- Part VIICrisis Management
- Glossary
- Notes
- Index
Summary
Translated below are two agent validation reports on Yang. The template for reports like these resembled be the KGB‘s karakteristika agenta, which was meant to describe, among other things, a person’s ‘strong points and shortcomings … which have come to light while he was used for agent work, prospects for making further use of him, and an evaluation of his work over a particular period’. The first validation report (from 1953) assesses in depth Yang’s overall performance and potential as an operative, while the second report (from 1957) mainly highlights his performance during the Communist Party’s Hundred Flowers Campaign.
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- Eyes and EarsSecret Agent Work in Cold War China, pp. 172 - 176Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2026
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