Getting Rich First: Life in a Changing China

(Paperback)

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Description

'A gripping account of modern China's transformation- Duncan Hewitt introduces us to the new Chinese - the entrepreneurs and the migrant workers, the ambitious students and the young lovers, the real estate agents and restaurant owners, the performance artists and those who search for new faiths. This is living history written from the inside' - John Gittings, author of The Changing Face of China. Welcome to the new China, a nation in perpetual fast forward - where cities rebuild themselves in double quick time, peasants leave the land in their millions, and parents scratch their heads as the young generation embraces pop culture, the internet and the sexual revolution, while the new middle-classes rush to enjoy previously unimaginable lifestyles, the ruling Communist Party struggles to keep up with shifting values among calls for a more open media and society and an ever-growing wealth gap. Through individual stories, former BBC correspondent Duncan Hewitt paints a memorable picture of China in all its complex, contradictory, often startling reality.

Reviews

A brilliant insider's account of life in the new China... tender and often shocking * Sunday Times *
A lively and human portrait of a society living in extraordinarily interesting times * Scotsman *
A perceptive, detailed and entertaining exploration of the tumult that is modern china * Times Literary Supplement *
Captivating... A remarkable guide to the faultlines in China today * Asian Review of Books *

Author Bio

Duncan Hewitt first lived in China in 1986, while studying Chinese at Edinburgh University. He later worked as an editor and translator of Chinese literature in Hong Kong before joining the BBC World Service. He was a BBC correspondent in China from 1997 until 2002, initially in Beijing and later as the corporation's first Shanghai correspondent. He now writes for Newsweek and other publications in Shanghai.