this is another book which took me a while to finish. it sheds lights on the condition of China's peasants (estimated at over 900 million). the book became a best-seller in china and sold over 10 million copies. it was banned after the first 250,000 were sold, since the government was concerned that it will cause civil unrest.

the picture the book is painting is not pretty. it seems that not much have changed in the life of peasants from the period described by pearl buck in "the good earth" (which takes place in the same province, anhui. if anything it seems now there is a system in place making corruption and abuse much more wide spread.

for those who believe china's rise is imminent and nothing could stop it, i think this book could shed a new light. if china will not find a way to improve the lives of the peasants it may be the one thing that will stop it from catching up with the west.

the book itself is poorly written in my opinion. the writers paint every village/township boss a cartoonish villain and every villager as a prosecuted saint. and the way they choose to describe some of the situations is so one-sided in the way it is described that it in my opinion it loses some of its credibility. but this may also be some kind of cultural gap between current western writing and the state of non-fiction writing in china.

recommended reading for anyone who is interested to learn more about china.