What is Lijia Zhang reading?

The latest featured contributor to Writers Read: Lijia Zhang, a writer, journalist, social commentator, and author of the newly released, "Socialism Is Great!": A Worker’s Memoir of the New China.

Her entry starts:

As a journalist reporting from China, I always try to read new books about China. Recently, I read a few good ones.

The Little Red Book of China Business by Sheila Melvin. This is not another book for how to do business in China, cashing in on the large potential of the China market and the need for guidance through the political and cultural maze. This is a most unusual book about how to apply Chairman Mao’s thoughts to understanding business culture in China. It sounds wacky, but makes sense. Although Mao died over 30 years ago, he influenced the new generation of business leaders and his legacy lives on. With her deep knowledge and insight into the culture, Ms. Melvin unlocks many secrets to business success in China. Her accessible writing style and funny anecdotes make this a highly enjoyable read. [read on]

Read an excerpt from "Socialism Is Great!" and visit Lijia Zhang's website.

Jonathan Spence, author of The Death of Woman Wang and Return to Dragon Mountain, on Lijia Zhang's "Socialism Is Great!":

Lijia Zhang has written a sharply observant and admirably crafted memoir of her life in China during the 1980s, the period between the first effusions of Democracy Wall and the tragedy of Tiananmen Square. In this memoir, Zhang places her own first experiences with factory work, foreign literature, physical desire, and political activism, in the broader setting of fading Maoist impulses and the beginnings of China's headlong pursuit of economic growth. The result is a truly original contribution to our understanding of modern China.

Writers Read: Lijia Zhang.

--Marshal Zeringue