China Diary

Edward Rutherfurd has enthralled millions of people with his grand, sweeping historical sagas that tell the history of a famous place over multiple generations. Now, in China: The Novel, Rutherfurd takes listeners into the rich and fascinating milieu of the Middle Kingdom. The story begins in 1839, at the dawn of the First Opium War, and follows Chinese history through Mao's Cultural Revolution and up to the present day. Rutherfurd chronicles the rising and falling fortunes of members of Chinese, British, and American families, as they negotiate the tides of history.

Many nations define themselves in terms of territory or people; China defines itself in terms of history. Taking into account the country's unrivaled, voluminous tradition of history writing, John Keay has composed a vital and illuminating overview of the nation's complex and vivid past. Keay's authoritative history examines 5,000 years in China, from the time of the Three Dynasties through Chairman Mao and the current economic transformation of the country.

Michael Wood has travelled the length and breadth of China, the world's oldest civilization and longest lasting state, to tell a thrilling story of intense drama, fabulous creativity, and deep humanity that stretches back thousands of years.

In June 1992, Chris Patten went to Hong Kong as the last British governor, to try to prepare it not—as other British colonies over the decades—for independence, but for handing back in 1997 to the Chinese, from whom most of its territory had been leased 99 years previously. Over the next five years, he kept this diary, which describes in detail how Hong Kong was run as a British colony and what happened as the handover approached. The book gives unprecedented insights into negotiating with the Chinese.

The Chinese economy appears destined for failure, the financial bubble forever in peril of popping, the real estate sector doomed to collapse, the factories fated for bankruptcy. Orlik games out what will happen if the bubble that never pops finally does. The magnitude of the shock to China and the world would be tremendous. For those in the West nervously watching China's rise as a geopolitical challenger, the alternative could be even less palatable.

The Diary of Katy Yehonala is a sweeping, evocative tale spanning three generations of resilient women navigating personal and political upheaval in China and beyond. Through the lens of May-ling, later known as Katy Yehonala, we are drawn into a world where personal freedoms are often sacrificed. Yet, the indomitable spirit of love, family, and cultural heritage perseveres.

A snobbish French executive arrives in Shanghai with his expensive shoes and ties, expecting a short career-boosting posting before returning to Paris. Instead, he ends up deep in China's manure-soaked fields, buying and selling vegetables, all because he has convinced himself that he can single-handedly drag Chinese agriculture into the 21st century. It didn't work out as he planned. The Lettuce Diaries is a revealing and humorous memoir of entrepreneurship, doubling as a primer on doing business in China, and explaining things the French executive only learned the hard way.

Das Tagebuch der berühmten chinesischen Schriftstellerin Fang Fang aus einer abgeriegelten Stadt ist ein einzigartiges, ergreifendes Zeitdokument über den Kampf gegen einen unsichtbaren Feind, den die Menschen in Wuhan weltweit als erste führten. Wuhan: Am 25. Januar, zwei Tage nachdem erstmals in der Geschichte eine 9-Millionen-Einwohner-Stadt komplett von der Außenwelt abgeriegelt wurde, beginnt Fang Fang, online Tagebuch zu schreiben. Eingeschlossen in ihrer Wohnung berichtet sie vom Hereinbrechen und dem Verlauf einer Katastrophe, von der Panik während der ersten Tage der Covid-19-Epidemie bis zu ihrer erfolgreichen Eindämmung.