Recommendations from our site
“One of the real values of it is trying to think about not having to choose between either being impressed by some of the things that are going on technologically in China, or being horrified by the political repression — he walks this line between. It’s important that he has the chapters on the one child policy and zero covid, about things that go terribly wrong when the human impact of big projects is not taken seriously enough. What I like about the book the most is being in the company of an incredibly thoughtful person who spent time in many different parts of China thinking about what’s going on.” Read more...
Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Historian
“Dan Wang’s big conceit here is that China is an engineering economy, and America an economy dominated by lawyers…Dan Wang’s conclusion is that China needs some of America’s respect for freedom of political expression and America needs quite a lot of China’s engineering ambition. Both countries risk killing off the best of themselves if they overdo one or other of those particular tendencies.” Read more...
The Best Business Books of 2025: the Financial Times Business Book of the Year Award
Andrew Hill, Journalist
Our most recommended books
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Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics
by Yasheng Huang -
The Story of the Stone (also called Dream of the Red Chamber)
by Cao Xueqin -
To Change China
by Jonathan Spence -
Neither Gods nor Emperors
by Craig Calhoun -
The Water Margin
by Shi Naian & translated by J M Jackson -
Monkey King: Journey to the West
Wu Cheng'en, translated by Julia Lovell
