Wish Lanterns

Alec Ash is a writer and journalist in Beijing.He studied English literature at Oxford University. After graduating he taught in a Tibetan village in western China for a summer, before moving to Beijing in 2008.His articles have been published in The Economist, Prospect, Dissent and Foreign Policy among others. He is a correspondent for the Los Angeles Review of Books, a contributing author to the book of reportage Chinese Characters, and founder of the Anthill, a writers' colony of stories from China.

• Chapter - 1: Xiaoxiao Chapter - 2: Dahai Chapter - 3: Fred Chapter - 4: Snail Chapter - 5: Lucifer Chapter - 6: Mia Chapter - 7: Snail Chapter - 8: Fred Chapter - 9: Dahai Chapter - 10: Xiaoxiao Chapter - 11: Lucifer Chapter - 12: Mia Chapter - 13: Snail Chapter - 14: Fred Chapter - 15: Lucifer Chapter - 16: Dahai Chapter - 17: Snail Chapter - 18: Xiaoxiao Chapter - 19: Mia Chapter - 20: Lucifer Chapter - 21: Dahai Chapter - 22: Snail Chapter - 23: Fred Chapter - 24: Lucifer Chapter - 25: Dahai Chapter - 26: Xiaoxiao Chapter - 27: Snail Chapter - 28: Mia Chapter - 29: Lucifer Chapter - 30: Fred Chapter - 31: Dahai and Xiaoxiao Chapter - 32: Snail Chapter - 33: Lucifer Chapter - 34: Fred Chapter - 35: Mia Chapter - 36: Xiaoxiao and Dahai Section - i: Author's Note Acknowledgements - ii: Acknowledgements

A provocative portrait of a fast-changing society riven by internal contradictions . . . a fine addition to the field, one of the best I have read about the individuals who make up a country that is all too often regarded as a monolith, but which abounds with diversity on multiple levels. Fluently written with nice touches of humour . . . this books supplies much food for thought, informing the wider debate while retaining its value as a closely observed picture of how some Chinese live today