China's Brave New World: And Other Tales for Global Times

by Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom

If Chairman Mao came back to life today, what would he think of Nanjing's bookstore, the Librairie Avant-Garde, where it is easier to find primers on Michel Foucault's philosophy than copies of the Little Red Book? What does it really mean to order a latte at Starbucks in Beijing? Is it possible that Aldous Huxley wrote a novel even more useful than Orwell's 1984 for making sense of post-Tiananmen China―or post-9/11 America?

In these often playful, always enlightening "tales," Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom poses these and other questions as he journeys from 19th-century China into the future, and from Shanghai to Chicago, St. Louis, and Budapest. He argues that simplistic views of China and Americanization found in most soundbite-driven media reports serve us poorly as we try to understand China's place in the current world order―or our own.

Genres: China, Nonfiction, History

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom, a Professor of History at the University of California, Irvine, is a modern Chinese social and cultural historian, with a strong interest in connecting China's past to its present and placing both into comparative and global perspective. He has taught and written about subjects ranging from gender to revolution, human rights to urban change.

His work has received funding from the Charlotte W. Newcombe Foundation.

Reviews

[Julia]

Jeff is an historian of China and a colleague of mine at UC, Irvine. He's written a more personal travelogue and commentary on his recent trips to China. Since he usually goes to China for conferences, don't expect an ethnography! But he is a great reader of local signage, the meanings of McDonald's, and the importance of bookstores. If you're interested in China (wide or close), you'll enjoy Jeff's journeys.

[Katherine Baber]

IUP booty. Nice collection of essays - fun to read around the time of the Beijing Olympics.