From one of China's most acclaimed writers comes a unique, intimate look at the Chinese experience over the last 30 years, told through personal stories and astute analysis that sharply illuminate his country's meteoric transformation. 240 pp.

Reviews

"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. . . . A rich, sympathetic, yet unsparing portrait of a nation in near-constant transition. . . . The author manages to make palpable the follies of the nouveau riches, the grotesque plight of the rural poor, the corrupt and tragicomic missteps of the ignorant charlatans who make up the passing parade of local politicians, as well as the blazing brutality of what took place on the Square that night when the army rolled over student demonstrators in their tanks...Miraculously, he does all this without seeming to oversimplify. Clearly, Yu Hua was the man for the job. . . . He knows, in other words, whereof he speaks. But mostly he was qualified to undertake such a project because of his gift for compassion. . . . Pitched at a level of heartbreak that may be almost unbearable for Western sensibilities, the final two chapters, "Copycats" and "Bamboozle," are nevertheless essential reading for anyone who hopes to get a sense of both the ingenuity and breathtaking chicanery that together drive so much of life in modern China." --Barnes and Noble Review
"A discursively simple series of essays explaining his country's recent history through 10 central terms. . . . Caustic and difficult to forget, "China in Ten Words" is a people's-eye view of a world in which the people have little place." --Pico Iyer, "Time" (Asia)
"One of China's most prominent writers. . . . In his sublime essay collection, Hua explores his often spartan childhood during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and 1970s and the rampant corruption of modern China." --Newark Star-Ledger
""China in Ten Words" is a series of 10 essays that follow particular themes Yu Hua deems to be integral to understanding his country's experience. Using words such as "leader," "revolution," "disparity," and "copyc