China in Ten Words

By Yu Hua, Allan H. Barr (translator),

Book cover of China in Ten Words

Book description

People. Leader. Reading. Writing. Revolution. Grassroots. Through these and other common vernacular words and phrases, Yu Hua - widely regarded as one of China's greatest living writers - frames powerful personal stories of the Chinese experience from the Cultural Revolution to the 2010s. With wit, insight and courage, he presents…

Shepherd is reader supported. When you buy books, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Why read it?

1 author picked China in Ten Words as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Culture is how we group ourselves. Culture is how we see. To make ourselves understood by people of other cultures, we have to lend them our eyes. That’s hard, but Yu Hua meets that challenge for me. His book China in Ten Words offers ten essays about China, each with a one-word title: Revolution. Reading. Copycat. Words like that. Each essay surrounds its title-word with content until one understands what the word means, not to oneself, but to Hua. The essays work like a fusion of memoir and history. They draw the reader into one man’s experience; and at the…

From Tamim's list on the human story as a single whole.

Want books like China in Ten Words?

Our community of 11,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like China in Ten Words.

Browse books like China in Ten Words

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in China, civilization, and culture?

China 631 books
Civilization 222 books
Culture 120 books