For our December book club, we’ll be reading China’s New Youth (UK edition titled “Wish Lanterns”) in preparation for our chat with the author,  Alec Ash.

China’s new youth are the generation that will change China. Offspring of the one-child policy, with no memory of Tiananmen, they are destined to transform both their nation and the world. Understanding their motivations, dreams, and attitudes is possibly the most important gauge of China’s future direction as it plays an increasingly important role in shaping this century.

China’s New Youth follows the lives of six young Chinese as they navigate their aspirations, discontents, politics, and love lives. Their stories include a netizen nationalist, a country migrant, the daughter of a Party member, a rising pop star, and a feminist entrepreneur. With intimate access to this diverse generation, Alec Ash—a young writer based in China since 2012—gives a vivid, immersive, fascinating account of young China as it comes of age.

SPEAKERS:

Alec Ash

Author of China’s New Youth

Alec Ash is a writer and editor who lives in China. He is the author of China’s New Youth (UK edition titled Wish Lanterns), literary nonfiction following the lives of six young Chinese, which was a BBC Book of the Week. His articles have appeared in The New York Review of Books, The Atlantic, The Spectator and elsewhere. He is China correspondent for the Los Angeles Review of Books and managing editor of its China Channel website. Ash is a contributing author to the book of reportage Chinese Characters (UC Press, 2012) and co-editor of the anthology While We’re Here (Earnshaw Books, 2015). He currently lives in Dali, Yunnan.

Twitter: @alecash