Smoke and Mirrors

By Pallavi Aiyar,

Book cover of Smoke and Mirrors: An Experience of China

Book description


India and China share a 3500-km border and have interacted with each other for over 2000 years. It is remarkable then that their people know so little of each other: what they think, how they live, their language, customs and philosophy.Or even their cuisine. Pallavi Aiyar was very much the…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Smoke and Mirrors as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

This is a first book, covering Aiyar’s years in China as a political correspondent for the Indian Express and The Hindu. Because she is Indian, Aiyar’s perspective differs from Americans’ viewpoints, which drew me, as I’ve been to both India and China. Aiyar tracks the impact of rapid growth on her informants’ sense of self and place—and then compares China’s growth to India’s. It’s a fast-paced, lively book featuring lots of interaction between Aiyar and her students, their families, and other informantsa thoughtful portrait of a culture shifting from tradition into an unknowable future, written by a…

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