Chinese characters : profiles of fast-changing lives in a fast-changing land / edited by Angilee Shah and Jeffrey Wasserstrom ; foreword by Pankaj Mishra.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Shah, Angilee.

Wasserstrom, Jeffrey N.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

National characteristics, Chinese.

China--Social life and customs.

China.

Manners and customs.

Physical Description:

xiv, 231 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, [2012]

Summary:

An artist paints landscapes of faraway places she has never seen, which are then hung on the walls of homes and offices throughout the world. A migrant worker sorts recyclables and thinks deeply about the soul of his country, while a Taoist mystic struggles to keep his traditions alive. An entrepreneur capitalizes on a growing car culture by trying to convince people not to buy cars but to rent them. Arid a ninety-year-old woman remembers how the oldest neighborhoods of her city used to be.

These are the exciting and poignant, humorous and confusing stories of utterly ordinary people living through China's extraordinary transformations. Chinese Characters is a collection, as Pankaj Mishra writes in his foreword, ôto herald a new golden age of journalism about a ceaselessly fascinating country." Contributors include a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, a MacArthur Fellow, the China correspondent to a major Indian newspaper, and scholars whose depth of understanding is matched only by the humanity with which they treat-their subjects. Together, their stories create a multifaceted portrait of a country in motion and an introduction to some of the best writing on China today. Book jacket.

Contents:

Part 1 Doubters and Believers 13

1 The North Peak / Ian Johnson Johnson, Ian 15

2 The New Generation's Neocon Nationalists / Evan Osnos Osnos, Evan 25

3 Out of Tibet / Alec Ash Ash, Alec 40

Part 2 Past and Present 53

4 Belonging to Old Beijing / Harriet Evans Evans, Harriet 55

5 Another Swimmer / Xujun Eberlein Eberlein, Xujun 67

6 Looking for Lok To / James Carter Carter, James 751

Part 3 Hustlers and Entrepreneurs 89

7 The Ever-Floating Floater / Michelle Dammon Loyalka Loyalka, Michelle Dammon 91

8 King of the Road / Megan Shank Shank, Megan 103

9 Painting the Outside World / Peter Hessler Hessler, Peter 114

Part 4 Rebels and Reformers 131

10 The Road to a Better Life / Ananth Krishnan Krishnan, Ananth 133

11 Yong Yang's Odyssey / Christina Larson Larson, Christina 145

12 The Court Jester / Jeffrey Prescott Prescott, Jeffrey 156

Part 5 Teachers and Pupils 175

13 The Great Wall of Education / Anna Greenspan Greenspan, Anna 177

14 Gilded Age, Gilded Cage / Leslie T. Chang Chang, Leslie T. 192

15 Shredding for the Motherland / James Millward Millward, James 202.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780520270268

0520270266

9780520270275

0520270274

OCLC:

780161439