China's Transformations: The Stories Beyond the Headlines

A re-engagement with the editors” China beyond the Headlines (2000), with new insights and contributing authors, this compelling work is at once a critical assessment of contemporary Sino-U.S. relations and an appraisal of myriad social, political, and economic shifts within the PRC. Esteemed scholars, journalists, and activists engage in topics as diverse as the environment, eating habits, the Internet, film and literature, coal mining, Falun Gong, and journalism. . . . The book is highly accessible: all authors use a narrative writing style; a brief chronology and note on Chinese pronunciation preface the work; and each chapter includes a short list of recommended readings. This volume and its 2000 precursor address the editors” desire to contextualize China in an era when the U.S. is increasingly less distinct from the once exotic and mythologized ”middle kingdom.” Essential.

The major contribution of the book is that it addresses the basic yet most critical issues in contemporary China in a comprehensive way. It provides a fresh and timely look at a changing China. Students and scholars of contemporary China will certainly benefit from reading the book.

China”s Transformations succeeds in providing an array of chapters on interesting topics that draw the reader in and stimulate thinking about both China and the ongoing dialogue between American and Chinese society. Having used this book twice in my undergraduate class on Chinese politics, I can report that students―even those who have little natural interest in China―enjoy reading it and gain a great deal from it. Yet even while China”s Transformations is well-suited for use in the undergraduate classroom, China specialists and members of the general public alike will also find the chapters engaging and thought-provoking. . . . A rare find: an edited volume on China that is fun to read, accessible to a variety of audiences, and full of highly insightful and interesting analyses.

Clear, readable, and compelling―an excellent collection of essays that I will certainly use myself. — Rana Mitter, University of Oxford

I intend to adopt this terrific book. It”s the perfect blend of accessible prose and rigorous scholarship on important but seldom-covered topics. — Karl Gerth, University of South Carolina