BOOKS
Relocating to a new part of the world can be particularly challenging under the best of circumstances. In cases where you are moving to a completely foreign culture those challenges have the potential to seem insurmountable because you don’t know what to expect. One of the goals of expat essentials is to remove some of the mystery so that you will feel more comfortable and prepared for your journey.
This section is particularly important to the successful process of moving your life to Shanghai. We have carefully selected titles that we feel cover a broad range of topics and which will appeal to many types of readers in the hope that you will find something that is both enjoyable and enlightening.
MY COUNTRY AND MY PEOPLE
Lin Yutang (1936) 349 pages
William Heinemann
Lin Yutang is the Harvard-educated Nobel Prize-nominated inventor of the Chinese printing press as well as the author of arguably the definitive work on the Chinese mentality. My Country and My People offers piercing insight into the character and personality of Chinese people, and because it is written with the purpose of explaining China and its people to Westerners, it is a must-read for expats coming to Shanghai.
ONE BILLION CUSTOMERS: LESSONS FROM THE FRONT LINES OF DOING BUSINESS IN CHINA
James McGregor (2007) 312 pages
Free Press and Simon & Schuster
One Billion Customers is widely praised as essential reading for those going to China to do business. McGregor's work is both colorful and cautionary and offers nuggets of wisdom and engrossing case studies that are as insightful as they are valuable.
MR. CHINA: A MEMOIR
Tim Clissold (2006) 288 pages
Harper Paperbacks
Arriving in China in the early 1990s, Tim Clissold teamed up with an entrepreneur to buy shares in Chinese companies in order to make them
more profitable. His account of the experience of doing business in China is a must-read for those seeking to set up a joint venture or who will be employed by one.
POORLY MADE IN CHINA: AN INSIDERS ACCOUNT OF THE TACTICS BEHIND CHINA'S PRODUCTION GAME
Paul Midler (2009) 241 pages
John Wiley & Sons
Voted best book of 2009 by the Economist, Poorly Made in China is a must-read for business people looking to outsource manufacturing to China. Midler offers insightful com-mentary based on first-hand experience which both enlightens and entertains. In addition, the book has many laugh-out-loud moments that highlight the clash of cultures between East and West.
FACTORY GIRLS： FROM VILLAGE TO CITY IN A CHANGING CHINA
Leslie Chang (2008) 448 pages
Speigel & Grau
Former Beijing correspondent for the Wall Street Journal Leslie Chang spent three years following the lives of two teenage girls who migrated from their village along with 130 million others in China to work in the factories of urban centers. Her account of the successes, trials and heartbreaks of the girls is a great way to understand what life is like for the majority of Chinese people.
BUILDING SHANGHAI: THE STORY OF CHINAS GATEWAY
Edward Denison & Guang Yuren (2006) 258 pages
Wiley-Academy
The Guardian called Denison's work a breathtaking case study of Shanghai in which he combines unseen archive material and photography with excellent research to reveal the correlations between Shanghai’s history and its present-day development.
CHINA CANDID: THE PEOPLE ON THE PEOPLED REPUBLIC OF CHINA
Sang Ye (2006) 363 pages
University of California Press
Sang Ye, a leading Chinese journalist, compiled a series of intimate interviews with a wide array of ordinary Chinese people over many years in
order to portray a compelling alternative history of China from the creation of the communist state to the present.
CARL CROW, A TOUGH OLD CHINA HAND: THE LIFE, TIMES, AND ADVENTURES OF AM AMERICAN IN SHANGHAI
Paul French (2007) 324 pages
Hong Kong University Press
French's biography of Carl Crow, the author of the predecessor to One Billion Customers (titled 400 Million Customers), is both a story of the rise and fall of Shanghai and a vivid, amusing account of the man who arrived in the city in 1911 and carved himself a page in its history.
SHANGHAI: THE RISE AND FALL OF A DECADENT CITY
Stella Dong (2000) 336 pages
Harper Perennial
Dong's vivid account of the wild days of Shanghai when it earned the monikers 'whore of Asia* and the 'Sodom and Gomorrah of the Far East' fosters an understanding of why Chinese people regard this period so negatively. She effectively shows how the arrogance and opulence of foreigners helped pave the way for the ascendance of communism in China.
THINK LIKE CHINESE
Zhang Haihua and Geoff Baker (2008)
194 pages
Federation Press
Think Like Chinese explains Chinese thought and business culture from the Chinese perspective. Zhang and Baker show how Chinese language, history, philosophy and ethics continue to shape beliefs in modern China. They share their experiences and observations, garnered from years of investing and managing businesses in China, and provide strategies for overcoming the cultural barrier. (Review courtesy Federation Press)
CHINA: PORTRAIT OF A PEOPLE
Tom Carter (2010) 638 pages
Blacksmith Books
Carter's beautiful and elegant photo essay reveals the incredible diversity of Chinas 56 ethnic groups and informs the reader that China is more like Europe than it is one homogenous state.
FILMS
EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN
Ang Lee (1993)
Starring Sihung Lung and Yu-wen Wang
A great movie that deals with the generation gap in China through its portrayal of the single father of three unwed daughters.
EMPIRE OF THE SUN
Steven Spielberg (1987)
Starring Christian Bale, John Malkovich and Miranda Richardson
The story of a boy whose life is turned upside down by the Japanese invasion of Shanghai.
THE LAST EMPEROR
Bernardo Bertolucci (1987)
Starring John Lone, Joan Chen and Peter O’Toole
A dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last emperor of China
CODE 46
Michael Winterbottom (2003)
Starring Tim Robbins and Samantha Morton
A dark, Orwellian sci-fi thriller set in the near future with Shanghai as the backdrop.
JASMINE FLOWER
Hou Yong (2004)
The tale of three generations of Shanghai women.
SHANGHAI TRIAD
Zhang Yimou (1995)
A gangster film set in 1930s Shanghai. This is Shanghai's version of The Godfather.
SUZHOU RIVER
Lou Ye (2000)
A very surreal tale of lust and lost love set in poor, industrial Shanghai.
TO LIVE
Zhang Yimou (1994)
Starring Ge You and Gong Li Some say this is the best movie ever made about China. It portrays a Chinese family reduced to peasantry during the Cultural Revolution. Be sure to watch it before you arrive, as it has been banned in China.
