Some Great Books on China

My family and I lived in Ningbo for 2 1/2 years. While I still read books about China, during the months leading up to our move, my wife and I both read about China every chance we could get. There are so many great books about China, it would be impossible to list them all, but I'd like to mention a couple of them.

While reading the excellent blog http://www.danwei.org/, I came across another book I can't wait to read. "Socialism Is Great!": A Worker's Memoir of the New China. This book has definitely moved up my reading list.

Of course, many of the books I read focused on abuses during the Cultural Revolution. These stories must be told, but they often made me angry, or depressed. There were two books by Da Chen, however, that made me feel differently. While Da Chen and his family suffered mightily during the Cultural Revolution, these books to me seemed more stories of hope, and triumph over adversity. He even made me laugh! Check 'em out!