The best books about China from 2023

Every month at FOCUS, we look at a different new book on China and talk to the author. From history to economics, business case studies to geo-politics – the successful business person in China needs to grasp all these elements. So this year, we’ve examined books ranging in topic from Xiconomics to local entrepreneurship, Big Tech to China’s changing cities – and even some Christmas food ideas from Fuchsia Dunlop. Read on for a handy summary all in one place …

January – We started the year chatting with Ning Ken, author of Zhong Guan Village: Tales from the Heart of China’s Silicon Valley, about the birth, development and future of a village on the periphery of China’s capital that has become a major cluster of tech and innovation to rival California’s Silicon Valley.

February – We talk a lot about Big Tech in China, but since the start of the reform and opening up process in 1978, it’s often been local entrepreneurs, many in obscure and remote rural locations, that have driven the economy by using technology to reinvent their businesses and themselves. So we spoke with Lin Zhang, author of Labor of Reinvention, Entrepreneurship in the New Chinese Digital Economy, about everything from co-working spaces to “Taobao Villages”.

March – China’s cities continue to grow, sprawl and burgeon, but they’re also changing in subtle but important ways. Weiping Wu and Qin Gao’s collection China Urbanizing: Impacts and Transitions looks at how everything from demographic shifts to climate change are affecting China’s megalopolises.

April – The relationship between China and Russia remains one that goes through ups and downs – from becoming a potential bloc against the “West” to hard and fast Frenemies. The war in Ukraine and China’s slowing economy are both shaping that relationship. Philip Snow produced a massive history of the relationship this year, entitled China and Russia: Four Centuries of Conflict and Concord, and we talked about the tensions between Moscow and Beijing post-USSR, the era of Xiconomics and Putin’s war in Ukraine.

May – How we approach a post-covid China as it slows down economically, tackles high youth unemployment and forges alliances around the world to offer alternative forms of economic development affects everyone. One major intervention in the debate was associate professor of economics at the London School of Economics Keyu Jin’s The New China Playbook, which argues that what may appear to be contradictions to the Western eye can, if understood better, become opportunities for those on the outside.

June – Let’s be honest, past biographies of Hong Kong have generally been a little dull – often featuring long, boring lists of ex-governors and dreary colonial officials. This year, Vaudine England changed all that with Fortune’s Bazaar, an amazing and highly readable portrait of the city that accentuates the position of women, the energy of migrants from mainland China and the truth that Hong Kong has always been a multicultural place.

July – Unsurprisingly, a number of books in 2023 have tried to decipher the economic policies of Xi Jinping. We talked to Andrew Cainey and Christiane Prange, the authors of Xiconomics: What China’s Dual Circulation Strategy Means for Global Business – the book that will help you know your dual circulation strategy from your “friendshoring”.

August – For those doing business in China, history and analysis is all very well, but we also need case studies and lessons drawn from doing business in China. Businessman and former president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, Ker Gibbs, put together a set of essays from many long-term foreign businesspeople in China in Selling to China: Stories of Success, Failure and Constant Change. How can businesses cut through the current tensions, and where might the commercial world of China move in the future?

September – After the severe shock of Covid-19 and the new reality of a long-term slowing of China’s economy, perhaps it is time to rethink ideas of intercultural leadership in China. With this in mind, Gábor Holch has been consulting with a range of foreign businesses in China to help their executives understand where they stand. Holch’s Dragon Suit: The Golden Age of Expatriate Executives in China will help you deal with localised leadership, build your networks, consider decoupling, the culture shock of Chinese business and how to maintain a decent work/life balance.

October – Jeremy Garlick’s Advantage China: Agent of Change in an Era of Global Disruption examines China’s global policies, notably towards the global south, and its emerging financial and influence footprint worldwide. We spoke with Garlick about the seemingly troubled Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), unpacked China’s multitude of new and ongoing ‘global’ initiatives, and asked whether the Xi administration ever admits any policy weaknesses. We also examined whether the current property crisis is going to be the property crisis, or if China will once again deflate the debt bubble.

November – It’s always worth remembering that China’s history contains some of the most amazing stories imaginable, as well as indicators of the future. Kassia St Claire’s wonderful The Race to the Future tells the incredible story of the 1907 Peking to Paris car race. But The Race to the Future is not just about a car race, it’s about a changing world, from one we wouldn’t recognise to one we most certainly do. It also tells the story of China’s introduction to that now ubiquitous invention of the modern age – the combustion engine.

December – And so we reach the end of the year and the festive season. A highlight of the published works on China this year was, without a doubt, Fuchsia Dunlop’s Invitation to a Banquet. It’s a book that’s been reviewed everywhere and praised universally, so we thought we’d take a slightly different tack and ask Fuchsia what to dive into and what to avoid at banquets, how to survive as a vegetarian in China, and what we can do with turkey at Christmas if we prefer our cuisine with Chinese characteristics.