Activist Harry Wu spent 19 years in Mao's labour camps and devoted years to uncovering what goes on in China's 'laogai' or 'reform-through-labour' camps. He picks five books showing China's darker side.

The late China specialist and UCLA professor Richard Baum said that he sometimes felt genuine admiration for China’s technocratic leaders. Other days, he shook his head at their obsessive intransigence and China's endemic political insecurity

All eyes are on China as it occupies an increasingly important role on the world stage and its economic growth continues to barrel on. But behind the Chinese Communist Party's apparent competence lies a deep insecurity about its relationship with its own citizens, particularly those who question its right to rule them. American historian and Sinologist Jeffrey Wasserstrom picks the best books of 2020 on China.

Victor Shih's selection highlights rising inequality, economic irregularity and political heavy-handedness at the heart of modern China. As its economy blazes on, uncertain times may be looming

China covers a vast territory, and is far more ethnically and culturally diverse than many outsiders assume. Chris Livaccari, a veteran Chinese language teacher, recommends books he believes every Chinese language learner should read.

Though it was the fifth biggest city in the world in the years following the Second World War, there aren't nearly as many novels set in Shanghai as there are in Paris, Berlin and other international cities. Author and expert on modern Chinese history Paul French takes a look at the literary history of an often underwritten city from the 1930s through to the new millennium.

Countries do have to come to terms with their own history, and it's unhealthy that China has not yet come to terms with the Cultural Revolution, argues the West's leading scholar of the period, Roderick MacFarquhar. He chooses the best five books on the Cultural Revolution.

From the Han dynasty to the time of Marco Polo, the routes connecting Asia, Africa and Europe—now known as the Silk Road—were responsible for enormous amounts of global trade. Yale historian Valerie Hansen, author of The Silk Road: A New History, introduces us to its rich history: “one of the reasons the Silk Road is a misnomer is that silk was not the main good moving along.”

China has had close political and cultural relations with Korea for centuries and the history of that relationship can shed light on China's approach to international relations more broadly—including in its imperial past. Yale historian Odd Arne Westad recommends the best books on China, Korea and the relationship between them.

Travelling to China? What are the best books to read to get a more in-depth understanding of this complex country? Longtime Beijing resident and New Yorker writer Evan Osnos picks some of his favourites.