Young China: Wie eine neue chinesische Generation ihr Land und die ganze Welt verändert

by Zak Dychtwald

The author, in his twenties, who is fluent in Chinese, examines the future of China through the lens of the Jiu Ling Hou—the generation born after 1990.A close up look at the Chinese generation born after 1990 exploring through personal encounters how young Chinese feel about everything from money and sex, to their government, the West, and China's shifting role in the world--not to mention their love affair with food, karaoke, and travel. Set primarily in the Eastern 2nd tier city of Suzhou and the budding Western metropolis of Chengdu, the book charts the touchstone issues this young generation faces. From single-child pressure, to test taking madness and the frenzy to buy an apartment as a prerequisite to marriage, from one-night-stands to an evolving understanding of family, Young China offers a fascinating portrait of the generation who will define what it means to be Chinese in the modern era.Zak Dychtwald was twenty when he first landed in China. He spent years deeply immersed in the culture, learning the language and hanging out with his peers, in apartment shares and hostels, on long train rides and over endless restaurant meals.

Genres: China, Nonfiction, History, Sociology, Asia, Audiobook, Politics

Hardcover

First published February 13, 2018

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

An engaging book and something I’m interested in: millennials in China and how their lives are so different from those of their parents. But the factual inaccuracies were distracting and too plentiful to be typos or oversights. Things like now is the first time children and parents have been separated in China or that porn is new to China are simply not true. The first was rampant during the Cultural Revolution and the second in the 90s. Sometimes I felt like I was back in China during the 90s because so much of what he wrote about pertained to that time. I’m also curious as to why he didn’t talk about gender disparity when discussing the one-child policy. That came later with leftover women, but it seemed like a missed opportunity in the little emperors chapter. Foot binding as a whole stopped with the end of the Qing dynasty, not with Mao. Also, the part about the chaste Chinese students and how that’s changing when they go to the US to study and become “open”. 25 years ago in Hong Kong, the mainland students were all sleeping with each other in my dorm and married to others back in China. They had no Western influence at that time. I also was uncomfortable with the term “smart woman”, as if all uneducated women weren’t smart. I think he meant educated women. And the list goes on. I think a good copy editor could have saved some of these inaccuracies. It would have been really informative if these mistakes weren’t so prevalent. Three stars for the writing and effort and bringing me back to the 90s in China.

[SerialReader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Young China is such a terrific book! Thoroughly researched and incredibly interesting, this book will help you understand the touchstone issues the Jiu Ling Hou generation faces.

[Kristin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite never playing sports before, twenty-four year old Guo Yu decided to take up running and ran his first marathon after two months of training. Two weeks later he ran another one, running six marathons in six months. His story is one of the many I will remember from Young China, Zak Dychtwald's engaging description of the Chinese generation born after 1990. He explores the importance of education, family, food, hobbies, travel and other topics through the stories of the friends and acquaintances he met while living in China for almost a decade. I loved learning details about Chinese culture that will help me understand my students and colleagues who are the children of immigrants or immigrants themselves.

I learned so many interesting facts in this book and was impressed that the author was able to build close relationships where people shared personal details about their lives. I now better comprehend the pressure many families place on only children to succeed and the work ethic of students who start attending school for nine hours a day starting at age six and then continue studying at home. (The two best colleges in China have an acceptance rate of 0.82% based solely on an admission test and students study for more than 80 hours a week for a year for graduate school entrance exams!) I also found out about the pressure to get married and have children in a country that emphasizes the family unit, defines unmarried women age 27 and older as leftover women, and sees children as parents' retirement plan. And I discovered how much China has changed in the last 70 years as the economy improved and educational opportunities and life expectancy increased. Thank you book club for another captivating read and discussion. I recommend this book to anyone who would like to learn more about Chinese culture.

[Patricia Eichenlaub · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating book. In addition to helping me think about how young Chinese view their country, it made me ponder what such a book about Young America might say.

[Jonathan Mckay · Rating 4 out of 5]

32nd book of 2021: Pivotal Generation

For most of the world’s and China’s history, generations didn’t matter. Sons and daughters adopted the class and profession of parents, and life meandered through time. But with the modernity encouraged under Deng’s reforms, generation has become destiny. Indeed, circumstances change fast enough that plans cannot even keep up with circumstances. (计划当不上变化 )

Any economist can tell you about the unprecedented growth that China has accomplished over the last 40 years, yet outside observers still seem to miss the yawning chasm rapid economic growth has brought between the young and old. This is where Young China excels: His country was becoming more like Brave New World than 1984 [...] A population numbed by materialistic pursuits, discouraged from individual thought and the drug soma. Money, materialism, lavishness, extravagance, they distracted people from the pursuit of truth and decency. The name for Chinese melennials is the ‘strawberry generation’ a play on words for their inexperience with hardship (吃苦), which literally translates to ‘eating bitterness’. Like the baby boomers of the American 60’s who ended up deeply alienated from the greatest generation thanks to the unprecedented prosperity of the 40’s and 50’s, Chinese millennials grew up with prosperity as their birthright, and are now looking for more.

Also like boomers, the desires of the previous generation loom large. In the case of China, these desires bear down on the current generation with the combined weight of centuries of continuous cultural expectation. From birth, preparation for high school tests and further education is an industry and national pastime. Students adopt the (题海战术) sea of questions strategy in an attempt to get admitted to schools that admit fewer than 1% of applicants. To get married, the expectation for men is to own a car and then a house, which has led to astronomical real estate prices in even 4th tier cities. For women, marriage before the age of 30, but after completing studies is expected, lest the dreaded moniker of ‘leftover woman’ be applied. It is not surprising then that

The freedom most young Chinese people craved was not liberation from an oppressive strict government, but rather freedom from an impossibly demanding set of cultural expectations, as well as the freedom to determine their own fate.

In America, baby boomers completely reshaped the cultural landscape, and put limits on the cold war. In the Arab world, the ‘Facebook Generation’ brought about the Arab spring, only to watch such dreams crumble with the ensuing Arab winter. I expect China’s strawberry generation to be pivotal for the country, if not the world. Unfortunately most authors are more interested in cultural novelty, as there’s something satisfying about cultural novelty that would be diminished by explanation. Dychtwald doesn’t get all the details right, but this is a story that needs to be told outside of China, and I’m glad somebody is telling it.

[Dmitry · Rating 4 out of 5]

(The English review is placed beneath Russian one)

На удивление удачная находка. Я бы назвал это смесью из личного наблюдения и социологии. А можно просто отнести книгу к разряду социологии. Единственное чего я опасаюсь в связи с этим, так это то, что книгу могут воспринять как скучное и тяжелое чтиво из разряда академических учебников, а это на самом деле не так. В любом случаи автор пишет о нынешнем молодом поколении в Китае, показывает, что из себя представляют молодые люди, выросшие в новом Китае, о котором все сейчас говорят.
Как я уже сказал, книга чем-то напоминает заметки путешественника, но только с той разницей, что автор не путешествует по Китаю, записывая всё то, что видит, а как я понял, живёт и работает в нём. Что напоминает мне другую похожую книгу, также узконаправленную – «Плохо сделано в Китае». Отличает эти две книги то, что в рассматриваемой автор практически ничего не говорит о политическом строе, о порядках, которые господствуют в красном Китае, не подходит к Китаю с критической точки зрения, отчего возникает иллюзия, что в принципе Китай мало чем отличается от восточно-европейских стран, что есть, разумеется, неправда. Отсутствие критического взгляда – главный минус.
Итак, вся книга будет строиться вокруг одной темы – нынешнее молодое поколение. Как оно воспитывалось, как к нему относилось общество и родители, что означает понятие «маленький император» и к каким последствиям это могло привести, как выглядит культура или среда, в которой живёт эта молодёжь сегодня, которая не знает ни голода, ни нужды, о которой так хорошо знали их родители (автор ничего не упоминает о тех, кто живёт вне городских стен, о тех, чья жизнь намного хуже). Также было интересно узнать о той невообразимо сильной конкуренции за сладкие места, что царит в Китае. В принципе, по тому, что говорит автор, можно сделать вывод, что молодёжь в Китае, мало чем отличается от своих сверстников из Европы и США. Тут те же проблемы: получение хорошего образования, карьера, роль женщины в новой экономике (выбор в пользу карьеры, а не семьи), сексуальные отношения, трудности найти достойного супруга или достойную супругу, уход от реальности и караоке. Вообще, я уже второй раз вижу эту тему с караоке и что в Китае это архиважная часть их жизни. Что же касается всего остального, что я перечислил, то тут всё очень похоже на вышеупомянутую книгу «Плохо сделано в Китае», т.е. весь текст составляет личные наблюдения автора, его суждения, его замечания, пусть и весьма убедительные (или непротиворечивые). Именно поэтому мне трудно отнести книгу строго к одному жанру. И это, я думаю, главная слабость книги, т.е. проблема возможного (возможного) принятия частного за общее, недостаточная научность книги. В той же «Плохо сделано в Китае», автор хотя бы работает на реальные предприятия (в Китае) и на реальные компании из США, но тут мы видим взгляд человека живущего и работающего в Китае (как я понял, преподавателем английского языка), что уже говорит о наличии определённых ограничений, самоцензуры. Главным же плюсом книги является тот образ молодого поколения, что рисует автор. Да, много общего с коллегами из других стран, но также много и специфических особенностей.

A surprisingly good book. I would call it a mixture of personal observation and sociology. Or you could classify the book as a sociology one. The only thing I worry about is that the book might be perceived as a boring and difficult reading from the category of academic textbooks, which is not the case. In any case, the author writes about the current young generation in China, who grew up in the new China, which everyone is now talking about.
As I have already said, the book reminds us the traveler's notes, but only with the difference that the author does not travel around China, writing down everything he sees, but as I understand it, lives and works in China. Which reminds me of another similar book, also narrowly focused "Poorly Made in China: An Insider's Account of the Tactics Behind China's Production Game". What distinguishes these two books is that in "Young China" the author says almost nothing about the political system, about the order that prevails in red China, does not approach China from a critical point of view, which gives rise to the illusion that China is not much different from Eastern European countries, which is certainly not true. The absence of a critical eye is a major drawback.
So, the whole book will be built around one theme - the current young generation. How they were brought up, how they were treated by society and their parents, what the concept of a "little emperor" means and what the consequences were, what the culture or environment in which these young people live today looks like, who know neither hunger nor need, about which their parents knew so well (the author does not mention anything about those who live outside the city walls, about those whose lives are much worse). It was also interesting to learn about the unimaginably strong competition for "sweet places" that reigns in China. According to what the author says, we can conclude that young people in China are not much different from their peers in Europe and the United States. In China, there are the same problems: getting a good education, a career, the role of women in the new economy (the choice in favor of a career rather than a family), sexual relations, difficulties in finding a decent wife or husband, the escape from reality and karaoke. In general, this is the second time I see this topic (karaoke) and that in China it is an important part of their lives. As for everything else that I have mentioned above, it's all very similar to the above-mentioned book "Poorly Made in China: An Insider's Account of the Tactics Behind China's Production Game", i.e. the entire text is a personal observation of the author, his judgments, his comments, albeit very convincing (or consistent). That is why it is difficult for me to attribute the book strictly to one genre. And this is the main weakness of the book, i.e. the problem of taking the particular one for the general, insufficient scientific character of the book. In the same book "Poorly Made in China ", the author at least works for real companies (in China) and for real companies from the U.S., but here we see the look of a man living and working in China (as I understand he is an English teacher), which already indicates the presence of certain restrictions, self-censorship. The main advantage of the book is the image of the young generation that the author paints. Yes, there is a lot in common with colleagues from other countries, but also a lot of specific features.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really interesting understanding of so many different parts of young Chinese culture. I appreciated the authors use of Chinese language and his legitimate immersion and awareness of being an American outsider without appropriating.

[Jesse Field · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surely countries other than China inspire peripatetic postgraduates to socially relevant memoir, but likely none more so than this huge place, the country that turned first and fastest from impoverished state socialism to rich and getting richer state capitalism. Young Zak’s 2018 work remains relevant even in 2020, and it’s a model of this kind of book, balancing confession with observation, opinion, analysis and fact. The world would be so much better if we could all write like this.

After a brisk summary of the historical context, Zak puts his central focus on the post-90s generation, verging freely from his interview subjects to expansive sketches of these people’s world, with peeks at Zak’s own experience learning Chinese and learning to fit in. Tom, Zak’s friend in Sichuan, blesses Zak’s adventure as “the observer.” Bella, down in Zhejiang, illustrates the pressure on those who dive into China’s “competitive study culture.” The conventional wisdom about ‘little emperors’ in China belies the generally heavy expectations that China’s burgeoning middle class places on every new generation since the late 1970s.

One cannot stress enough the influence of the housing markets on marriage and the future life trajectories of these incoming generations of global middle class, with tight relationships across generations remaining stable in the future to pay for expensive homes — as long as the market lasts. Nevertheless, sexual mores are changing quickly in China, and more and more women are pursuing the dream of independence and improvement as competitively as their male peers, straining the traditional model of marriage. Zak even offers one of the most concise and balanced accounts of homosexuality among this generation that I have ever seen. His conversation with sociologist and activist Li Yinhe is a very impressive document that does substantial work to bring this major thinker’s voice into English.

Young China is a testament to a fact which President Obama used to often point out, but has gotten lost since the fateful year 2016: China’s burgeoning middle class are not only not “communists,” they have inherited the mantle of bourgeois values that Max Weber called “the Protestant ethic,” and which now is often described here in China — without snide giggles — as “your China dream.” Zak is by far the most perceptive writer on this topic I have ever seen, and I must say that his point in this regard is not at all out of date in 2020, but seems even amplified and accelerated by China’s experience of global pandemic — their strong response to crisis gives them new confidence. Chapters here on leisure consumerism and the new travel industry apply double this year as spending returns.

And perhaps most fascinating of all is the peak that we get into Tom’s youthful perspective on joining the Chinese government. The big question is, will the liberal values supposed to have driven the growth of bourgeois society be inculcated in China? Or is that pure neoliberal fantasy? Will totalitarian government rub out the souls of young individualists, or reduce them to hedonist monkeys in a meaningless industrial machine, a la Orwell and Huxley? The truth of what is happening and will happen is of course beyond what even the brightest minds can envision. And Zak’s concluding portrait of Tom is sensitive to the play and push of the many factors here — ego-driven, we consent to serve, and nationalist, we stand up for ourselves. There are many things not covered in this book, an unabashed contemplation of the middle of society, and not its margins. But the main message is, this middle is more like the American middle class than most American authors* have ever been willing to admit — and just as Obama warned, they might be doing it all better than us now.

(* Wang Hui and members of new Marxist study groups in China, and far-left critics in the USA, know well enough that what drives both countries today is accurately described in the first few chapters of Marx’s Capital — money is the base of the belief system, as Zak writes. Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing is left implicit in this book, though of course that means it “leans” to the center. Damn the picket lines, register your start-ups ahead.)

[Megan Helmer]

Interviewing the author on Instagram tomorrow night (Sept 4, 2019)! @montanaonlineteacher

[Choon Searn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Young China portrays China from the perspective of a white American man traveling through China and learning about the culture and language, while at the same time interviewing people.

If you are expecting a deep academic analysis of China, turn away immediately. This is not it.

Instead, it is a highly accessible and story-based representation of what some young people in China desire. This book explained that they desire love, sex, marriage, individuality, freedom, money, education, economic progress and so much more.

At times the different stories in the book appear to contradict one another. For a while, I found this contradiction unsettling because I can’t seem to draw a definite conclusion from the stories. However, upon reflection, I realized that such contradictions are integral, or I would say essential, to the book. This is because it shows that humans (or the young Chinese featured) are complex. And where the contradiction arose from different stories on different people, it shows that the youth in China is not a monolithic entity, but a complex entity with people of different wants. Essentially, the contradictions made this book realistic.

As someone who speaks Chinese at home, follows news on China, was educated on Chinese culture (both modern and ancient) and politics in school, and had recently just completed a 2 month internship with a firm in China, I would say that this book truly captures the essentials of what I had seen, heard, read and experienced China and China’s youth to be like... and more! I dare say that the author’s experience on what Young China is like is likely more comprehensive that any usual Chinese person’s, given the author’s active purpose in learning and crystallizing what he has seen.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nonfiction book all about young people in China, told via both anecdotes and more big-picture assessments of China's politics, freedoms and limitations, demographics, cultural pressures, attitudes towards love, sex and gay rights, and the culture of "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" which the locals see as simultaneously enabling and unfair.

If you're interested in this topic, this is a pretty fascinating book. China is such a unique and influential country on the world stage. Its sheer magnitude, and its tug-of-war between private/public, communism/capitalism, individualism/groupthink, etc., makes it someplace that warrants a hard look and a lot of digging into what makes it tick.

The focus on young people is especially interesting since so much has changed so quickly. The youth in China have some habits completely in line with their Western counterparts, and some not at all.

The author is particularly precocious and impressive. He looks to be in his 20s (he studied abroad in China, learned the language, and enveloped himself in the culture in order to gain the perspective to write this book) but you would swear he was a 50-year-old academic with decades of experience writing on the topic.

[Jaap Grolleman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dychtwald's writes well and his sentences have a neat flowing rhythm to them, although he jumps from topic to topic — back and forth — and does so even within the twelve loosely-bundled chapters of the book. 'Young China' feels like a loosely weaved net of anecdotes, which are rich in detail and probably representative for the millennial generation (in tier one cities). Yet the book does lack an overal storyline, and doesn't answer its own promise on 'how the restless generation will change their country and the world'. Whilst entertaining and insightful, its biggest flaws is that it doesn't rise beyond the recent stereotype of Westerners in China who write a book about their friends (such as Street of Eternal Happiness and Wish Lanterns). Those new to Sinology (the study of China) will enjoy learning many new things — but for those similar to the subject, Young China will feel repetitive. 

[Sid · Rating 3 out of 5]

The youth of China are detailed from grade school onto their early careers. Zak takes a conversational style to interview his subjects. There are many bits of Chinese history sprinkled throughout the book. I found China's rate of change fascinating, with each change in guard, the country seeks to aspire for global relevance. The difference between parents and their children are striking. While the parents seek security, the children are looking for freedom. This freedom is defined as freedom to express oneself, to travel and to not live within the constraints of family expectations (job, marriage, kids etc.). Like many dynamic enterprises, China is undergoing a cultural and economic shift. Ultimately if China is looking to continue its growth, my belief is for them to be more inclusive, and it is their youth that will play a key role in this development.

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

An American millennial (he was born in 1990) moves to China after college and becomes enamored with its people and culture. He masters the language and becomes friends with a bunch of young Chinese his age. He’s essentially telling us westerners all the stuff about being a Chinese person in China that we’d never really know otherwise. He translates their culture for us. I learned so much about the modern culture and the day-to-day stresses young Chinese deal with as they wrestle with a rapidly changing country and the intense expectations surrounding college, getting a job, marriage, kids, caring for their parents, and the like. This book is a must read for anyone that really wants to understand modern China thru it’s people and as someone who recently moved to Beijing it has given me an entirely new perspective of my surroundings.

[Aaron Lê · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dychtwald offers an introductory glimpse at modern living in China in his cohort. You will read about the meaning of life in 21st century China, and how it plays out in the daily lives of its million of citizens. one of the big points of the book is the importance of wealth and status in China's society, and how one must adapt to reach those lofty standards (owning a car, home, and paying a dowry are expected from any man serious about marriage). I would've liked to see more about how America/China are intertwined, conjoined at the hip basically, and what that will mean for the future, but this book offers a great first taste of China and should serve as an inspiration for anybody looking to move there and see for themselves.

[Peter Tillman]

Consider. WSJ review:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/review-t...
Mixed review (paywalled). He criticizes the author for "too rarely acknowledg[ing] valuable work that has been done by scholars and other journalists who know China well."

"To make sense of contemporary China, it is crucial to understand the varied aspirations, anxieties, fears and fantasies of the many millions of Chinese—as big a group as the entire populations of some sizeable countries—who were born after the year that soldiers killed protesters near Tiananmen Square. “Young China” provides an excellent starting point for doing just that."

[Rhonda Lomazow · Rating 5 out of 5]

An intimate open look at this generation of young chines.Wriienbyba member of this generation we get a real open look at their world their thoughts the food they eat their thoughts on their sexual lives politics the future a fascinating look at the world of the young Chinese society today, Thanks @st.Martins@netgalley for advance copy.

[Blaine Morrow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dychtwald provides a focused, uplifting, and surprising portrait of China's future leaders. There is much to discover: little emperors, parent-eaters, leftover women, superstudents, single singles. The author's experiences, acquaintenances and observations are invaluable for gaining insight into where China is heading.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

With the ambitious objective of becoming fluent in Mandarin, Zak Dychtwald moves to China and completely immerses himself in the culture over the course of nearly a decade. In China's young adults, Dychtwald has observed a distinctive change from previous generations in their career aspirations, approach to finances, relationships, political philosophy and leisure interests, and it is his belief that this generation will mark a turning point in Chinese history.

Having picked this book up aware of only the most basic (and likely most stereotypical) facts about Chinese culture, it was a revelation from start to finish. Even had the focus of this work not been on the changes seen in young generations, it was super educational — I learned a ton about both traditional and contemporary culture. Some particularly eye-opening surprises included the percentage of young Chinese who are near-sighted and its speculative correlation with a memorization-centric education system, and that young adults today are significantly taller than their grandparents, many of whom grew up severely malnourished. Recommended for readers with interests in cultural awareness and global citizenship.

[Lori French · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow - what a fascinating job he does of analyzing so many of the things we experienced. But also, so much is already changing. A great read!

[Rob Hocking · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like "Wish Lanterns", this is another book based around the premise that in order to understand where China is going, we need to understand its young people. Like the author of "Wish Lanterns", the author speaks fluent Mandarin and has spent significant time living in China. However, from the point of view of organization, the two books are quite different. Whereas "Wish Lanterns" told six interweaving stories of young Chinese, each chapter in this book focuses on some question or aspect of life in China, which the author then attempts to shed light by telling a story from his own personal experience.

For the first few chapters, I felt that this worked quite well. The author was trying to challenge (or at least provide another perspective) on the stereotype of China's "Little Emperors" (the belief that because of the one-child policy, young Chinese are spoiled).
His hypothesis that while China's single children are in some ways spoiled - lots of attention heaped on them and no expense spared in their education - they are also subjected to pressure to succeed that is difficult for us in the west to understand. He argues his position in part by sharing his experiences working as an English teacher at a private school for infants of wealthy Chinese. He describes his five-year-old students being grilled by their parents and grandparents at the end of class, and one student being reduced to tears when he couldn't remember how to pronounce "microscope". The mother of said child justifies her actions by saying that her son will need to write the 高考 "in just 13 years, and needs to start preparing now" (the 高考 is a university entrance exam in China. University admissions are 100% determined by 高考 scores, with no other factors taken into consideration). He also spends significant time describing the extent to which life for Chinese students from a very young age is centred around preparing for the 高考 to the extent that they "give up their youth". He shares interviews he conducted with people who had their lives effectively ruined by scoring badly on the 高考 - included one man who took the test five times in the hopes of scoring into his ideal university before giving up. The 高考 can only be taken once per year, so this person spent the entire period of his life from age 16-21 studying 80 hours a week, for five straight years. Eventually, his doctor recommended that he accept the mediocre score he had obtained for the 5th time rather than waiting a year and trying a sixth time, due to the negative effect the pressure seemed to be having on his health.

Although the author's evidence is mainly anecdotal, for this part of the book it is convincing.

However, I felt that later chapters were more like entertaining stories loosely related to their ostensible topic, but falling short of making any kind of definitive or convincing statement thereof. Overall, I felt that while the book was entertaining and contained many interesting nuggets of information, it did not do what it set out to do. In particular, based on its title, I would expect that after finishing the book I would walk away with some kind of theory or statement about how China's young people are going to change China. This never occurred, and this bothered me. I think that I would have better enjoyed a version of the book with a less ambitious but more accurate subtitle such as "reflections on life in Modern China told through the stories of young Chinese".

[Simon Eckelt · Rating 3 out of 5]

i liked it a lot. I read other books like the Chinese giving me a good understanding of China. This book I read during my travels in China. I really liked it. The story about the studies in the middle touched me.

[Helen Park · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think people are all the same, governments are all the same, families are all the same. Enlightening that a chinese - one of millions - feels more heard by their government than we feel by ours.

“The DNA of Chinese culture is baked into the language.”

“China has more than six hundred billionaires but one of the widest wealth gaps in the world.”

“Despite the great firewall, the Chinese Internet regulations that censor the content Chinese may see, Tom believes he still has a much better view of the world than the world has of China.”

“n a night your business could evaporate. In half a decade your whole sector can be rendered obsolete. Owning an apartment gives you a feeling of security, something that can’t get stripped from you at a moment’s notice.”

“Dating, unless it is expressly for testing marriage potential, is moral hooliganism.”

“Today in some ways China has a more level playing field in the business world for men and women than most other developed countries. China is already home to two-thirds of the world’s self-made female billionaires.”

“In its attitude toward women, the Chinese Communist Party is pragmatic, not progressive. “While growth remains a major area of focus, the Party is focused on a different priority: stability. “One of the biggest threats to China’s future stability is tens of millions of single men.”

“While ambition has always been native to China, the self-centric idea of dreams has not always found a place in China as it had abroad.”

“[The] Chinese government’s censorial authority in recent times has resembled not so much a man-eating tiger or fire-snorting dragon as a giant anaconda coiled in an overhead chandelier. Normally the great snake doesn’t move. It doesn’t have to. It feels no need to be clear about its prohibitions. Its constant silent message is “You yourself decide,” after which, more often than not, everyone in its shadow makes his or her large and small adjustments—all quite “naturally.”

“Tom’s generation has seen ample evidence of democracy’s failure as a Western export. Many in China, big media outlets included, point to the Middle East and the Arab Spring and shrug their shoulders. ”
“When Donald Trump campaigned and won the American presidency by claiming that the US government and media are corrupt and controlled by politicians who exploit the system to get rich, millions in China thought, “Wait … aren’t a corrupt government and a controlled media supposed to be China’s problems? I guess allgovermnemts are the same.”

“Tom noted that the American Dream and the Chinese Dream are practically identical except ours focused on the individual. Tom said, “Our rags-to-riches story is about our whole country.”

“I’m afraid I’m going to be so average that I’m going to not be able to provide or create something of myself and actualize my potential. That’s the pitfall of my future, not an extreme failure or even success with large failure, just fading into the middle, into mediocrity.”

[Shayna Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. The author presents a more personal look at China's version of milennials, the post-90s generation growing up in their country's fast-paced and overwhelming lifestyle. It's clear that many struggle combining the traditional expectations of their elders (job, marriage, house, babies before 30) as well as finding a place for their personal freedom and satisfaction. While the intention of the author's mission to write the book is not immediately clear beyond personal interest, his research and efforts are clearly noted. I am impressed with the amount of references as well as the care to include idioms and sayings in original Chinese and pinyin. Anybody with a mild interest in modern China will enjoy this book.

[Kimmie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zak is such a good writer, it's quite the challenge when writing about your experiences within another culture as it's so easy to come across as judgmental. Zak shows us exactly how it's done, and beautifully portrays the soul of China for those of us who only hear about the country from biased American news sources. I'm so glad I picked up this book because I've always wondered what it is "really" like to live in mainland China, and I finally got an answer! He portrayed the strengths and weaknesses of the country eloquently and fairly, which I really appreciated. 10/10 would recommend.

Zak also did a very good job with the audio book recording, it was very engaging and hard to stop listening to!

[Sngsweelian · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Would have given it a 4 if there is better editing. The shoddy English at times is grating and distracting at time (at least to me). Nevertheless, this is a decent attempt to help Westerners navigate the enigma that is China. The writer claims to be fluent in Mandarin but his sometimes inaccurate pronunciation of certain Chinese words makes you wonder what his definition of fluency is. We are all fallible anyway and he deserves some respect for devoting so much time into studying the Chinese culture, language and the people. Good effort!

[Iris · Rating 4 out of 5]

putting aside how critical theory might analyze the orientalist implications of a white dude’s gaze into the new china, this was an interesting book with a lot of anecdotes that reflect very real trends of the high-stress culture in china, and how millennials/gen z is coping (or perhaps rebelling) against it.

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Provides great information about modern China.

[Alex O'Connor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative and interesting

[Jan Bletz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Het onderwerp sprak me niet zo aan (als je één millennial kent, ken je ze allemaal), maar ik moet toegeven dat Zak Dychtwald een sterk boek heeft geschreven, grotendeels gebaseerd op zijn eigen verblijf in China. Het is dus hoofdzakelijk een - zeer geslaagd - ooggetuigenverslag van hoe millenials in China leven met overpeinzingen die hoofdzakelijk op eigen ervaringen zijn gebaseerd, in de traditie van The Lotus and the Robot.

Die overpeinzingen hadden van mij wel wat beter kunnen worden uitgewerkt. Hoe belangrijk zijn die millennials nu eigenlijk? Die ondertitel 'How the restless generation will change their country and the world' suggereert dat ze heel belangrijk zijn, maar die claim wordt m.i. niet waargemaakt.

Wel wordt goed duidelijk dat de millennials duidelijk verschillen van de voorgaande generaties:

- De ouderen, die even oud zijn als onze ‘babyboomers’ en de generatie daarvoor, hebben het maoïsme meegemaakt. Zij weten nog goed hoe het gesloten China zich opende voor de rest van de wereld. Zak Dychtwald heeft een vriend wiens ouders vroeger in het dorpje waar ze woonden zeer populair waren omdat ze een kalender aan de muur hadden met 12 plaatjes van Europese landschappen. Het was voor de dorpelingen hun venster op de wereld. De jongere generaties weten niet beter of ze leven in een wereld waarin alles en iedereen met elkaar verbonden is via internet. Als ze geld hebben, kunnen ze overal ter wereld op bezoek. Ze kijken naar Amerikaanse films en series, spelen World of Warcraft en kopen producten van buitenlandse bedrijven. Ze zijn kortom bijzonder internationaal georiënteerd.

- Een tweede belangrijke vormende factor is dat de demografische ontwikkelingen zwaar drukken op de jongeren. Er zijn veel ouderen en weinig jongeren. 50 jaar geleden was dat precies omgekeerd: toen waren er veel jongeren, vooral doordat mensen jong stierven (de gemiddelde levensverwachting in 1950 was rond de 36) en veel kinderen kregen (vijf of zes per gezin). De levensverwachting is inmiddels meer dan verdubbeld, en de éénkindpolitiek heeft ertoe geleid dat er minder jongeren zijn in verhouding tot het aantal ouderen. Zodoende is er wat in China een ‘4-2-1-probleem’ heet ontstaan: op elke vier grootouders, zijn er twee ouders en één kind.

- Een derde kenmerk van de huidige jongeren is dat ze vertrouwd zijn met het staatskapitalisme’ Wie na 1990 is geboren, heeft zelfs niet anders meegemaakt. De oudere generaties hebben vaak bittere armoede meegemaakt, zonder vooruitzicht op verbetering. Ze zijn erin geslaagd overeind te blijven ondanks alle Grote Sprongen Voorwaarts en hebben zich door alle Culturele Revoluties heen geslagen. Ze zijn erop ingesteld dat leven maar al te vaak niet meer dan overleven is. Jongeren zijn uit een ander hout gesneden. Ze zijn niet altijd even welvarend geboren, maar zijn eraan gewend dat de levensstandaard jaar in, jaar uit stijgt. Waar de ouderen materiële achteruitgang vreesden toen zij jong waren, zijn jongeren ingesteld op vooruitgang.

- Daarmee is het vierde kenmerk aangestipt: jongeren hebben vertrouwen in China’s vermogen om een leidende rol in de wereld aan te nemen. Ze hebben zelf gezien hoe China in de afgelopen jaren is opgebloeid, en keer op keer heeft bewezen dat het klaar is om zich politieke en economische internationaal sterker te laten gelden. De Olympische Spelen van 2008, de beursgang van Alibaba in New York in 2014, het Belt and Road-initiatief van 2013, het pleidooi van Xi Jinping voor vrijhandel in Davos in 2017: het zijn in de ogen van veel jongeren allemaal overtuigende aanwijzingen dat China klaar is om de vleugels verder uit te slaan.

In zekere zin zou je kunnen zeggen dat de jongeren blaken van het zelfvertrouwen, maar dat is niet helemaal het juiste woord. Ze geloven in de collectieve kracht van China – en ze vertrouwen erop dat ze daar deel van kunnen uitmaken. In tegenstelling tot de typisch Amerikaanse gedachte dat je het als individu ver kunt schoppen als je maar voldoende talent en doorzettingsvermogen hebt (‘van krantenjongen tot miljonair’), geloven ze dat ze het met elkaar ver kunnen schoppen. De ‘American Dream’ is persoonlijk getint, de Chinese Droom collectief.