RESOURCES - Living Abroad in Beijing - page 584

experiences from the Cultural Revolution, Wan sees parallels to his own life in 1980s
China. Leaving love behind, Wan eventually heads to Beijing to join the student protests
in Tian'anmen (consequently making this a controversial book in China).
Min, Anchee. The Last Empress: A Novel. New York: First Mariner Books, 2008. This is
a fictionalized account of one of the most notorious women in China's history, Empress
Dowager Cixi. Not to be taken as fact, Min's novel leads the reader into the corrupt world
of imperial China in Zhongnanhai, Beijing. Cixi is now a widow and mother of an emper-
or who has died from a venereal disease. She faces unrelenting deceit, power struggles,
rebellion, incursions from foreigners, and, ultimately, the collapse of the Qing dynasty.
Wang Shuo. Please Don't Call Me Human. Boston: Cheng & Tsui, 2003. A satirical story
about a Beijing taxi driver competing to find the nation most able to humiliate itself,
which in the process makes a barely hidden slur at the Olympics.
NONFICTION
Boyd, Julia. A Dance with the Dragon. London: I. B. Tauris, 2012. Pulling together pre-
viously unpublished historical sources, this fascinating book opens a window into the
world of Beijing's expats during the turbulent time between the Qing dynasty and the
coming of Mao. Boyd illustrates vividly a world of diplomats, scientists, missionaries,
and refugees, and the world that is in a hurricane of change around them.
Doctoroff, Tom. What Chinese Want: Culture, Communism and the Modern Chinese Con-
sumer. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. This is an excellent insight into the modern
Chinese consumer and a must-read for anyone hoping to succeed in business in Beijing.
Doctoroff insightfully discusses what is driving the country as well as the psychology of
its people.
Dodson, Bill. China Inside Out: 10 Irreversible Trends Reshaping China and Its Relation-
ship with the World. Singapore: John Wiley & Sons, 2011. An insightful guide for any-
one who wants to get to know today's China better. Exploring both business and society
from a wide range of angles, it looks at the forces driving the Chinese population and
where this superpower country is headed.
Halper, Stefan. The Beijing Consensus: Legitimizing Authoritarianism in Our Time. New
York: Basic Books, 2012. This informative book looks at China's relationship with the
United States, examining China's nonconfrontational strategies and soft power growth,
gained through such avenues as extensive aid to struggling nations.