Wish Lanterns
Young Lives in New China

Name: Wish Lanterns
Brand: Blackstone Audiobooks
Availability: InStock
Author: Alec Ash
ISBN: 9781538415368

Author: Alec Ash

Narrator: James Patrick Cronin

Unabridged: 8 hr 35 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Blackstone Publishing

Published: 03/07/2017

Categories: Nonfiction, Political Science, Political Ideologies, Social Science, Anthropology, History, Asian & Pacific Islander History

Synopsis

There are more than 320 million Chinese between the ages of sixteen and thirty. Children of the one-child policy, born after Mao, with no memory of the Tiananmen Square massacre, they are the first net native generation to come of age in a market-driven, more international China. Their experiences and aspirations were formed in a radically different country from the one that shaped their elders, and their lives will decide the future of their nation and its place in the world.Wish Lanterns offers a deep dive into the life stories of six young Chinese. Dahai is a military child, netizen, and self-styled loser. Xiaoxiao is a hipster from the freezing north. “Fred,” born on the tropical southern island of Hainan, is the daughter of a Party official, while Lucifer is a would-be international rock star. Snail is a country boy and Internet gaming addict, and Mia is a fashionista rebel from far west Xinjiang. Following them as they grow up, go to college, find work and love, all the while navigating the pressure of their parents and society, Wish Lanterns paints a vivid portrait of Chinese youth culture and of a millennial generation whose struggles and dreams reflect the larger issues confronting China today.

About Alec Ash

Alec Ash was born in England in 1986. After graduating from Oxford, he taught in a Tibetan village and in 2008 moved to Beijing, where he is a writer and journalist. His articles have appeared in the Economist, Dissent, Foreign Policy, and elsewhere, including the book of reportage Chinese Characters and the Los Angeles Review of Books, for which he blogs. He is a founder and editor of TheAntHill.org and coeditor of the anthology While We’re Here. He resides in Beijing.

About James Patrick Cronin

James Patrick Cronin is a classically trained stage actor with an MFA from the University of Louisville and a degree in philosophy from East Tennessee State University. He has performed everything from the classics to original material to comedy sketches in Ireland, Scotland, Serbia, Israel, and throughout the United States. An Earphones Award recipient, he has also recorded over one hundred audiobooks across an extensive range of genres, including science fiction, fantasy, young adult, and nonfiction.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Matteo

Videorecensione: [URL not allowed] Il giornalista Alec Ash aveva un'ambizione gigantesca: raccontare la Cina attraverso le storie VERE di sei millennial cinesi completamente diversi tra loro, ma in grado di offrire una panoramica affascinante della generazione post-proteste di piazza Tiena......more

Goodreads review by Arthur

There’s some slight professional jealousy flowing through my veins right now as I begin this book review, for you see, Alec Ash stole my ideal life. I guess I should explain. Roughly ten or twelve years ago, I had dreams (and let’s be frank, dreams are all they were) of transforming myself into some k......more

Quotes

“Alec Ash documents the lives of Chinese millennials with detail, insight, and sympathy.” Peter Hessler, New York Times bestselling author

“Mr. Ash…is a deft pointillist whose work offers a fresh take on a society the West still struggles to understand.” Wall Street Journal

“One of the best [books] I’ve read about the individuals who make up a country that is all too often regarded as a monolith.” Jonathan Fenby, Financial Times

“Informative and often humorous…Presents a refreshing range of perspectives about being twenty-something in China.” Forbes

“Masterfully crafted…The richness of Ash’s book is in the character development, the details of everyday life, dreams, frustrations, and contradictions.” Los Angeles Review of Books

“Fascinating…Ash’s deeply insightful exploration paints a vivid picture of growing up in China today, and, by implication, this powerful and ever-morphing nation’s future leaders.” Publishers Weekly

“Eloquently delineates the dreams and disappointments of young Chinese. Sensitive, fascinating reports.” Kirkus Reviews

“Beautiful and thoughtful…Alec Ash has succeeded in giving us an intimate and complex portrait of the one-child policy generation.” Xiaolu Guo, author of I Am China

“Alec Ash’s book has opened a window in the wall between China and the West for us to see the hopes and fears of these young Chinese.” Xinran, author of The Good Women of China