China in Ten Words

By: Yu Hua, Allan H. Barr - translator

Narrated by: Don Hagen

From one of China’s most acclaimed writers, his first work of nonfiction to appear in English: a unique, intimate look at the Chinese experience over the last several decades, told through personal stories and astute analysis that sharply illuminate the country’s meteoric economic and social transformation.

Framed by ten phrases common in the Chinese vernacular - “people”, “leader”, “reading”, “writing”, “Lu Xun” (one of the most influential Chinese writers of the twentieth century), “disparity”, “revolution”, “grassroots”, “copycat”, and “bamboozle” - China in Ten Words reveals as never before the world’s most populous yet oft-misunderstood nation. In “Disparity”, for example, Yu Hua illustrates the mind-boggling economic gaps that separate citizens of the country. In “Copycat”, he depicts the escalating trend of piracy and imitation as a creative new form of revolutionary action. And in “Bamboozle”, he describes the increasingly brazen practices of trickery, fraud, and chicanery that are, he suggests, becoming a way of life at every level of society.

Characterized by Yu Hua’s trademark wit, insight, and courage, China in Ten Words is a refreshingly candid vision of the “Chinese miracle” and all its consequences, from the singularly invaluable perspective of a writer living in China today.

©2011 Yu Hua (P)2012 Gildan Media, LLC

Critic reviews

“Moving and elegantly crafted . . . Offers rare insight into the cause and effect of China’s "economic miracle", focusing close attention on the citizens of the world’s most populous country. With an intimate tone and witty prose, Yu looks at the "effects that seem so glorious and searches for their causes, whatever discomfort that may entail," training his incisive eye on the quotidian as well as the grand . . . His book describes his particular experience, but hints at something much more expansive.” ( Publishers Weekly)

Great stories, amazing book.

Really an honest and open introspection about the author own experiences and China as a whole. Really enjoyable times and it really opened my eyes to the current Chinese culture.
I didn't like the narrator, but only because it felt he didn't care about the content of the book. Nevertheless the narration is not terrible,

10 For 10! Great Book on China!

- People
- Leader
- Reading
- Writing
- Revolution
- Disparity
- Copy Cat
- Bamboozle

These are just a few of the 10 words that the author uses in describing not only historical China, but today’s modern China.

As a frequent visitor to China myself, I would say that the writer is spot on with just about everything that he’s telling us. China is a culture rich in tradition, history, and amazing people, who have gone through evolution of change in leadership, and now are surging ahead to become the global economic power in the world in a short time.

If you have an interest in China, this book will be perfect for you. It’s short, concise, and the author, Yu Hua, does a fantastic job of keeping us engaged throughout.

Enjoy reading about China, old and new, and this excellent book, China in 10 Words!

Compelling Collection of Essays

This book has a unique structure as a collection of essays on life in China. The focus is primarily on the Cultural Revolution and its impact on the author's life. Definitely an interesting read with a unique structure.

thoughtful and well delivered first-hand experienc

A truly remarkable account of life in China simplified into ten word/concepts. A balance of thought provoking examples on the uniqueness of China from the eyes of a child and an adult -- the author

Different than expected.

I thought this was a history of China with a focus on chines characters. What it is is more of a biography. It is a story of his life with the grand events of China seen through his eyes and the experiences he had. Once I got over the change of expectation and knew what I was listening to I really enjoyed it. Small vignettes of stories that were priceless in the crazy 20th C China.

Best Popular Book on China

Fantastic book! I have now read 3 "popular" style books written about China, this is by far the best one. (The others were Dreaming in Chinese by Fallows- pretty good from a linguistics angle and Lost on Planet China by Troost - not horrible, but there's a lot better out there i'm sure). The author of this book, Yu Hua, is a prominent Chinese author who lives in Beijing/Hangzhou. He has written a number of very successful Chinese novels. This one, is ten essays on various parts of China. It is banned in China. It's a chinese person being honest about the Chinese government and history. This is a gold mine.

Reading and Copycat were probably my two favorite essays. In the first, he talks about growing up in the cultural revolution and scrounging around for books to read. He almost never gets past Mao's little red book and Lu Xun's various writings. He does find some books that have been extremely battered, often only partially surviving to feed his literary desires.

In copycat he talks about the chinese mentality behind making copycat products. A couple of times he has had fictitious interviews of him published and he will confront a reporter on it and the reporter simply says "it's copycat" and in the chinese culture, that justifies it.

There are many good things for him to say about China as well. This book was well written, engaging and so helpful for someone living in China to understand it a bit more. I enthusiastically recommend it to anyone looking for a thoughtful, accessible, historical and contemporary read on modern China.

Easy flow and good narration. Getting dated, we need an updated version.

A little too autobiographical. I'd have preferred more China and Chinese people and less Yu Hua.

A collection of the writers experiences

This is a good overview of China and I often think of some of the words when I am walking around here now. The one that most comes to mind is disparity. I see the construction workers and cleaners who lead a hard scrabble life working all day and often sharing squalid dormitories at night, where they play cards and sit around simply constructed tables with stools playing cards or eating. This is in sharp contrast to the so called middle class guy that now has a car, an apartment, built by one of the hard working migrants mentioned above and all the trapping of success we have come to associate with a decent life.In all fairness, I live near Shanghai, so my perspective is perhaps a bit too optimistic. There are plenty of other provinces where this disparity is greater and the infrastructure isn't as modern as where I am based. Yu Hua gives us a great overview in this brief account of a large and complex country that is hurtling towards modernity. I especially liked his account of how he learned to be a dentist. A profession he took up after high school. He describes in poignant detail how a veteran dentist showed him how to extract teeth and then had him copycat the process after having only watched two times. He was nervous and couldn't even look the patient in the eye. The book is by no means an exhaustive work, but it was entertaining and provoked some better understanding of a place I have been in for nearly 5 years. Chinese people are not usually so forthcoming and so it can be a place that seems barbarous and even bizarre at times. It is always interesting and many times shocking and surprising to simply observe life in China.

An understanding and critical view issues in China

Having read Yu Hua's 'Brothers', I was intrigued by themes in the novel and was interested to read more of Hua's work. 'China in Ten Words' did not disappoint. Having chosen these ten words from his own experiences, Hua explained the terms (not all meaning what U.S. Americans would expect) using stories from his life in China. It is fascinating and I could easily see connections between the two books and became shocked by the authenticity of the people and events of 'Brothers'.

fantastic memoir of modern China

excellent lesson in perspective. with enough cultural history mixed in to provide proper context, this seems to be an excellent "one man's" view about what it is to be Chinese in today's China.