Ben Hillman

Patronage and Power: Local State Networks and Party-State Resilience in Rural China

In the fourth book in this remarkable series, Ben Hillman shows young readers just how weirdsomething is. By examining objects such as neutron stars, lightning, frogs, and liquid nitrogen,wildly different objects are taken out of normal context and placed next to one another to allowfor new and exciting perspectives.So just how weird is a frog? Well, there's a frog from Surinam that gives birth through its back.Now, that's weird!With a large trim size and full-colour photographs, How Weird Is It? is guaranteed to make readerssay, "Wow!"

A Freaky Book All about Strangeness

How Weird is It?

Ostriches, the human brain, a professional cyclist, bamboo, and other things are compared to one another in a creative science book that examines the top speed of various animals, people, and objects as they travel by land, sea, or air.

A Zippy Book All about Speed

How Fast is It?

Gray Tuttle

Despite more than a decade of rapid economic development, rising living standards, and large-scale improvements in infrastructure and services, China's western borderlands are awash in a wave of ethnic unrest not seen since the 1950s. Through on-the-ground interviews and firsthand observations, the international experts in this volume create an invaluable record of the conflicts and protests as they have unfolded—the most extensive chronicle of events to date. The authors examine the factors driving the unrest in Tibet and Xinjiang and the political strategies used to suppress them. They also explain why certain areas have seen higher concentrations of ethnic-based violence than others. Essential reading for anyone struggling to understand the origins of unrest in contemporary Tibet and Xinjiang, this volume considers the role of propaganda and education as generators and sources of conflict. It links interethnic strife to economic growth and connects environmental degradation to increased instability. It captures the subtle difference between violence in urban Xinjiang and conflict in rural Tibet, with detailed portraits of everyday individuals caught among the pressures of politics, history, personal interest, and global movements with local resonance.

Unrest in China's West

Ethnic Conflict and Protest in Tibet and Xinjiang

Presents a visual guide to items and animals of various strength and substance, including such examples as spider webs, bulldozers, black holes, lasers, icebreakers, and the Hercules beetle.

A Mighty Book All about Strength

How Strong is It?

Interesting facts about some of the world's biggest things.

A Big Book All about Bigness

How Big is It?

Jane Golley

Sharon Strange

Linda Jaivin

The year 2019 marked a number of significant anniversaries for the People’s Republic of China (PRC), each representing different ‘Chinese dreams’. There was the centennial of the May Fourth Movement — a dream of patriotism and cultural renewal. The PRC celebrated its seventieth anniversary — a dream of revolution and national strength. It was also thirty years since the student-led Protest Movement of 1989 — dreams of democracy and free expression crushed by government dreams of unity and stability. Many of these ‘dreams’ recurred in new guises in 2019. President Xi Jinping tightened his grip on power at home while calling for all citizens to ‘defend China’s honour abroad’. Escalating violence in Hong Kong, the ongoing suppression of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, and deteriorating Sino-US relations dominated the headlines. Alongside stories about China’s advances in artificial intelligence and geneticially modified babies and its ambitions in the Antarctic and outer space, these issues fuelled discussion about what Xi’s own ‘China Dream’ of national rejuvenation means for Chinese citizens and the rest of the world. The China Story Yearbook: China Dreams reflects on these issues and more. It surveys the dreams, illusions, aspirations, and nightmares that coexisted (and clashed) in 2019 in China and beyond. As ever, we take a cross-disciplinary perspective that recognises the inextricable links between economy, politics, culture, history, language, and society. The Yearbook, with its accessible analysis of the main events and trends of the year, is an essential tool for understanding China’s growing power and influence around the world.

Ben Hillman

Books

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