I think that if <a href="http://journalism.berkeley.edu/faculty/schell/" title="UC Berkeley Journalism / Faculty / Orville Schell">Orville Schell</a> wrote a comment to one of my weblog posts, <a href="http://journalism.berkeley.edu/projects/chinadn/en/archives/001613.html" title="What is interesting about the Mu Zimei phenomenon is that while she is iconoclastic and even 'revolutionary' in her way, she is not 'political.'">I would die of smugness</a>.  Oh, and check out the <a href="http://journalism.berkeley.edu/projects/chinadn/en/">China Digital News weblog</a>, out of UC Berkeley.

##Reading List 2004

Richard, of the <a href="http://www.chinaweblog.com">China Weblog</a> is <a href="http://www.chinaweblog.com/archives/2003/12/14/back_from_school.php" title=" What's the best China-related book you've read—and that I've likely not read—this year?">requesting ideas</a> for his 2004 reading list.  This is my response:

<quote class="non-prose">Just today, I saw your post about China-related books.  I can't say that I've read any China books recently that have been genius, but a few have stood out and so I'll mention them to you:

1.  "China Wakes" by Nick Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn &ndash; one of those "I lived in China for a year, here are my impressions" but of the highest caliber.  This book turned me on to Kristof's writing, and I'm now I'm a faithful reader of his columns in the NY Times and IHT.

2.  "The Chinese Emperor" by Jean Levi &ndash; Levi comes from the French tradition of Sinology, a tradition with a long if not revered history.  This book is a piece of historical fiction covering the rise of the boy ultimately destined to become Qin Shi Huang Di, the first Qin emperor, and the cast of characters that surrounded his rise&mdash;mainly mercant-turned-politico Lu Puwei, and ruthless Legalist advisor Li Su.

3.  "Governing China" by Ken Lieberthal &ndash; this was actually the main textbook for my "China Under Communism" class this semester.  It was in manuscript form, so look for it to come out sometime next year.  It covers Chinese history since the turn of the century, the structure and functioning of  chinese government, and the major issues facing the Chinese government today.  Ken is a great communicator: his knowledge speaks to the China experts, and his casual tone speaks to the layperson interested in modern China.

Another good book we used in the class was "The Paradox of China's Post-Mao Reforms" edited by Merle Goldman and Roderick MacFarquhar, a series of essays on topics relevant to the Reform Era: military, the NPC, village elections, labor relations, migrant workers, intellectuals.  Of course, this is pretty academic, so if you're looking for fun reading you may want to pass it up.

The next book I'll be tackling (though not exactly a long or difficult read&mdash;hey, I'm on vacation!) is a book/pictoral of a trip by American playwright Arthur Miller to China in 1980.  I picked it up at a used bookstore for seven dollars having never seen it before, so I can't vouch for its quality.  Anyhow, it's on <em>my</em> list.

Good luck, happy reading.

&mdash;Micah</quote>