China Books of The Year 📚

Here's all the books we posted in July!

THE GREAT GLOBAL TRANSFORMATION A bold attempt to capture the deep economic forces shaping the emerging world, and carrying us into the uncertain era of "national market liberalism". US edition March 2026 @BrankoMilan press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book…

BREAKING THE ENGAGEMENT Argues that a key cause of worsening Sino-US ties is America's long-held paternalistic push to make China into a liberal state. Beijing's pushback means the US now sees China as a rival to be countered. June 2025 @OUPAcademic global.oup.com/academic/produ…

BREAKNECK A firsthand investigation of China’s seismic progress, its human costs, and what it means for America. Blends political, economic, and philosophical analysis with reportage. August 2025 @danwwang @wwnorton wwnorton.com/books/97813241…

Now posting over at BlueSky 👍🏼 bsky.app/profile/newchi…

Sadly I feel the need to transition this account to a different platform 😐 Email? Threads? BlueSky? Let me know ideas before I do a poll.

I was excited to see the beautiful UK edition of my new book on China, #AtTheEdgeOfEmpire, featured in Kinokuniya bookstore in Singapore while flying across Asia with @SecBlinken! More info on the US edition: bit.ly/3XDnsYi. And the UK edition: profilebooks.com/work/at-the-ed…

Mini-review #10 WE MET IN BEIJING ✅️✅️✅️✅️☑️ Beautiful poetry that captures the tumult and the peculiar pull of life as a foreigner in China's capital.

Mini-review #9 PRIVATE REVOLUTIONS ✅️✅️✅️☑️☑️ Empathetic biographies of normal young women in extraordinary times are a great way to understand contemporary China. So this is a worthwhile book for general readers, even if it ultimately feels a little bit aimless.

BOOK LIST 2024 🗒 Ongoing thread of China books I have read this year, with very short personal reviews and ratings out of five.

WOLF WARRIOR DIPLOMACY The evolution of Chinese foreign policy from Mao Zedong to Xi Jinping. Examines the domestic and international role that aggression plays in the diplomacy of the Communist Party. July 2024 @yaoyao_dai @roseluqiu @RLPublisher rowman.com/ISBN/978166691…

Just finished this one. Possibly the first book I've read by a sitting British MP!

THE SIX A exploration of the origins and fate of the little-known Chinese survivors from the Titanic — all of whom were expelled from the US less than 24 hours after they arrived in New York. April 2025 @sschwankert @simonschuster simonandschuster.com/books/The-Six/…

Since the turn of the 21st century, the rise of a new wave of #sciencefiction has been a momentous literary phenomenon in contemporary China, said Mingwei Song, chair of Chinese Literature at Wellesley College in the United States. @mingwei_song china-pictorial.com.cn/chinese-scienc…

@dallowayatlunch did you read Localized Bargaining by Xiao Ma?

Excited for this! Been wanting to read more on bureaucratic competition, which keeps coming up as a recurring theme.