Author Description

This stimulating and challenging book explores the duplicitous nature of development in China. On the positive side, it brings longer and healthier lives; fewer children dead before they are five years old; more comfort and security from famine and disaster; more education; more communication; more travel; less war. But from another, darker perspective, development brings violence to some people - those who are in the way of the new things, those who cannot adapt to the new ways - and it threatens old knowledges, habits and societies as it disrupts old power structures.