Books on China

Taiwan is a crucial lynchpin of the high-tech global economy, but its international political position is far from stable. China has explicit ambitions to incorporate it into the Chinese state and seems intent on building the military capacity to do this by force. The US is committed to preserving its de facto independence. For the moment, there is a stand-off, but a crisis over Taiwan would be a crisis for the world, politically and economically. Eyck Freymann, a fellow at the Hoover Institution, recommends five books to help understand the dynamics of the situation and the possible outcomes.

Despite his own and his family's suffering under Maoism, China's president, Xi Jinping, has turned his back on some of the reforms of the past four decades, dismantling safeguards designed to ensure that some of the disasters of that era never happen again. Olivia Cheung, a research fellow at SOAS and co-author of The Political Thought of Xi Jinping, recommends books to better understand China's leader and his quest to build a new world order—led by China and admired by all.

China has long fascinated Western imagination. A country once seen as a distant empire, so culturally and geographically far from what we’re used to, is now more accessible than ever before. From the Opium Wars to open markets, our understanding of this country has continuously evolved over the years, fueled by fascination, uncertainty and exoticism.

From an issue of a literary magazine that brings together contemporary writing from across mainland China to books focusing on different periods of its 20th-century history, it's been another good year for books about China available to English readers. Jeffrey Wasserstrom, a professor at UC Irvine and specialist in modern Chinese history, talks us through some of his favorite books about China published in 2024.

The rise of China has led to an ever broader range of books about the country becoming available in English. There’s also a greater focus on its diversity, which the country’s Communist leadership likes to downplay. Jeffrey Wasserstrom, a professor of Chinese history at UC Irvine, talks us through his favourite books of 2023, from painful historical episodes to the harsh policies targeting a largely Muslim ethnic group in Xinjiang today—by way of two lighter books that focus on food and cooking.

It's important to understand what goes on beneath the surface in China, and how people feel and react, says Anne Stevenson-Yang, who spent many decades living and working there. She recommends books to better understand the country, from its imperial history to the economic take-off of the last four decades.

From a true story that reads like a spy novel to a detailed study of the mythic origins of the Chinese Communist Party in Northwest China, there were lots of interesting books published about China this year. Jeffrey Wasserstrom, a professor at UC Irvine and specialist in modern Chinese history, recommends some of his 2022 favourites.

The English chef who studied cooking in Sichuan tells us that there is no one Chinese cuisine, how Western perceptions of Chinese food are changing, and why carrots are called "barbarian radishes" in Mandarin

Whether you want to read the entire history of China in 250 pages or find out what's going on right now in Xinjiang, enjoy a new translation of a 16th-century fantasy novel or delve into contemporary short stories, 2021 has been another good year for books about China. Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Chancellor's Professor of History at UC Irvine, recommends his favourite China books of 2021.

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.