China is emerging as the next superpower and increasingly dominates the world stage, but the country and its people remain a mystery to us in the West. In Dreaming in Chinese Harvard linguist and Shanghai resident Deborah Fallows offers a brilliant introduction to China's culture and landscape.
Each of the book's 15 chapters takes a particular linguistic or cultural conundrum and uses it as a clue to unlock aspects of Chinese life that might to outsiders seem bizarre. Incorporating many of the author's own experiences - from the mundane, like riding city buses, to the positively infuriating, such as trying to order a take-away without a decent working knowledge of Mandarin's 'tone-system' - this is a book to appeal to just about anyone who has China on their mind, be they first-time tourists, seasoned business people, or even the idly curious.
Accessible, original and often very funny, Dreaming in Chinese will help you discover this extraordinary nation for yourself.
