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China in Ten Words

By Yu Hua, Allan H. Barr (Translator)

(4)

| Hardcover | 9780307379351

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Book Description

From one of China’s most acclaimed writers, his first work of nonfiction to appear in English: a unique, intimate look at the Chinese experience over the last several decades, told through personal stories and astute analysis that sharply illuminate the country’s meteoric economic and social transfoContinue

From one of China’s most acclaimed writers, his first work of nonfiction to appear in English: a unique, intimate look at the Chinese experience over the last several decades, told through personal stories and astute analysis that sharply illuminate the country’s meteoric economic and social transformation.

Framed by ten phrases common in the Chinese vernacular—“people,” “leader,” “reading,” “writing,” “Lu Xun” (one of the most influential Chinese writers of the twentieth century), “disparity,” “revolution,” “grassroots,” “copycat,” and “bamboozle”—China in Ten Words reveals as never before the world’s most populous yet oft-misunderstood nation. In “Disparity,” for example, Yu Hua illustrates the mind-boggling economic gaps that separate citizens of the country. In “Copycat,” he depicts the escalating trend of piracy and imitation as a creative new form of revolutionary action. And in “Bamboozle,” he describes the increasingly brazen practices of trickery, fraud, and chicanery that are, he suggests, becoming a way of life at every level of society.

Characterized by Yu Hua’s trademark wit, insight, and courage, China in Ten Words is a refreshingly candid vision of the “Chinese miracle” and all its consequences, from the singularly invaluable perspective of a writer living in China today.

Critics

  • China in Ten Words

    How many tomes do you suppose it might take to describe the almost indescribable complexities of modern China -- its staggering growth pains and infinite ironies? Yu Hua does it with ten words. "This tiny lexicon," he writes, "gives me ten pairs of e ... (read full critics)

    barnesandnoble published on Fri, 2 Dec 2011

  • China in Ten Words

    How many tomes do you suppose it might take to describe the almost indescribable complexities of modern China – its staggering growth pains and infinite ironies? Yu Hua does it with ten words. "This tiny lexicon," he writes, "gives me ten pairs of ey ... (read full critics)

    barnesandnoble published on Tue, 29 Nov 2011

1 Review

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  • Three stars and a half

    A simple complicated book. It's clearly the work of an author who has already reached a certain degree of fame and can therefore let go a bit and just tell some of his thoughts about China in its last 40 years, basing his opinions on anecdotes about his own life past and present and facts he has see ... (continue)

    A simple complicated book. It's clearly the work of an author who has already reached a certain degree of fame and can therefore let go a bit and just tell some of his thoughts about China in its last 40 years, basing his opinions on anecdotes about his own life past and present and facts he has seen reported in the news and the Web.
    It is also somehow a "coming out": after so many years of telling about China and criticizing it only through his novels, and therefore through metaphors and fiction, he decides to state clearly what was and what is, and where some of the ideas in his novels came from. Why has he decided to come out right now, it's unclear. Does he believe in a greater acceptance by the authorities and censorship alike?
    Great authors have also great egos, so a book that everyone praises has a lucid analysis about China is also a kind of memoir. Yu Hua re-thinks is past and tells a bit more and not undercover about his own experiences, especially during the Cultural Revolution. Though the denunciation is clear enough, it's also apparent a certain amount of nostalgia for a time when kids were kids and would not understand in its entirety the seriousness of what was actually going on. The present is much harder to bear: naivety is neither an excuse nor a distorting lens any more.

    Is this helpful?

    Bambu said on Feb 26, 2012 | Add your feedback

Book Details

  • Rating:
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  • English Books
  • Hardcover 240 Pages
  • ISBN-10: 0307379353
  • ISBN-13: 9780307379351
  • Publisher: Pantheon
  • Pub date: Nov 08, 2011
  • Also available as: Others
  • In other languages: other languages Libri Italiani
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