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Young China

How the Restless Generation Will Change Their Country and the World

Audiobook
3 of 3 copies available
3 of 3 copies available

This program is read by the author.
The author, in his twenties, who is fluent in Chinese, examines the future of China through the lens of the Jiu Ling Hou—the generation born after 1990.

A close up look at the Chinese generation born after 1990 exploring through personal encounters how young Chinese feel about everything from money and sex, to their government, the West, and China's shifting role in the world—not to mention their love affair with food, karaoke, and travel. Set primarily in the Eastern 2nd tier city of Suzhou and the budding Western metropolis of Chengdu, the book charts the touchstone issues this young generation faces. From single-child pressure, to test taking madness and the frenzy to buy an apartment as a prerequisite to marriage, from one-night-stands to an evolving understanding of family, Young China offers a fascinating portrait of the generation who will define what it means to be Chinese in the modern era.
Zak Dychtwald was twenty when he first landed in China. He spent years deeply immersed in the culture, learning the language and hanging out with his peers, in apartment shares and hostels, on long train rides and over endless restaurant meals.

Praise for Young China:

"To make sense of contemporary China, it is crucial to understand the varied aspirations, anxieties, fears and fantasies of the many millions of Chinese — as big a group as the entire populations of some sizeable countries — who were born after the year that soliders killed protestors near Tiananmen Square. Young China provides an excellent starting point for doing just that." — The Wall Street Journal

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    • AudioFile Magazine
      Zak Dychtwald immersed himself in life in China; he rode the railways, learned the language, and now tells us about it. Dychtwald gives his storytelling an energetic delivery that makes his experiences all the more fascinating. He will have listeners laughing as his friends tell him his attempts to speak Chinese are "cute." He also recounts his experiences answering a range of questions about life in America to rapt audiences on late-night trains. One such question: Has he ever visited Hotel California? Dychtwald explains the differences in the four tones used in Mandarin Chinese at a pace that will help the unfamiliar soak them up--a wonderful reason to listen to this book instead of reading it in print. He will stun listeners with his linguistic dexterity and knowledge of a complex country. M.R. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from October 23, 2017
      Debut author Dychtwald, who heads the China office of the Dilenschneider Group consulting firm, delves into the trends and culture of Chinese youths to explore how modern-day China is evolving into a more open and inclusive society. Penetrating the world of Chinese millennials (defined here as those born between 1984 and 2002), Dychtwald touches on their famously demanding study practices through an interview with a graduate-school applicant who spends nearly 90 hours weekly studying for an entrance exam. Dychtwald’s own experience teaching English to kindergarteners brings him into contact with China’s “little emperors”—the young products of the Chinese one-child policy who are simultaneously coddled and pressured to succeed. Other trend-based neologisms reported in the book include the delightfully strange “parent eaters”—those who rely on parental support well into adulthood—and the heartbreaking “leftover woman”—an unmarried woman over 27 years old. A mother overheard admonishing her daughter crystallizes lingering conservative attitudes toward marriage and romance: “Dating not for the sake of marriage is hooliganism!” Dychtwald also examines Chinese youths’ retail habits, growing tolerance toward homosexuality, and views on democracy, censorship, and the Communist Party. It’s a richly informative and surprisingly intimate portrait of a side of China unknown to most Westerners. Agent: Elizabeth Kaplan, Elizabeth Kaplan Literary Agency Inc.

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  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

Languages

  • English

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