China Contemporary

On board the moletrain Medes, Sham Yes ap Soorap watches in awe as he witnesses his first moldywarpe hunt. The giant mole bursting from the earth, the harpoonists targeting their prey, the battle resulting in one’s death and the other’s glory are extraordinary. But no matter how spectacular it is, travelling the endless rails of the railsea, Sham can't shake the sense that there is more to life.

The United States and China are engaged in a broad-gauged and global competition for power. While this competition ranges across the entire world, it is centered in Asia. In this book, David Shambaugh focuses on the critical sub-region of Southeast Asia. The United States and China constantly vie for position and influence across this enormously significant area - and the outcome of this contest will do much to determine whether Asia leaves the American orbit after seven decades and falls into a new Chinese sphere of influence.

The iron wheel began to spin, slowly at first, then faster and faster. The room grew darker. As the light lessened, so did the sound. Deeba and Zanna stared at each other in wonder. The noise of the cars and vans and motorbikes outside grew tinny. The wheel turned off all the cars and turned off all the lamps. It was turning off London.... Zanna and Deeba are two girls leading ordinary lives, until they stumble into the world of UnLondun, an urban Wonderland where all the lost and broken things of London end up.

A thriller of a war that never was - of survival in an impossible city - of surreal cataclysm. In The Last Days of New Paris, China Miéville entwines true historical events and people with his daring, uniquely imaginative brand of fiction, reconfiguring history and art into something new. It's 1941. In the chaos of wartime Marseille, American engineer and occult disciple Jack Parsons stumbles onto a clandestine anti-Nazi group, including surrealist theorist André Breton.

The jaw-dropping conclusion to Girls of Storm and Shadow left the fates of Lei and Wren hanging in the balance. There's one thing Lei knows - she can never return to the Hidden Palace. The trauma and tragedy she suffered behind those opulent walls will plague her forever. She cannot be trapped there with the sadistic king again, especially without Wren.

In a remote house on a hilltop, a lonely boy witnesses a traumatic event. He tries - and fails - to flee. Left alone with his increasingly deranged parent, he dreams of safety, of joining the other children in the town below, of escape. When at last a stranger knocks at his door, the boy senses that his days of isolation might be over. But by what authority does this man keep the meticulous records he carries? What is the purpose behind his questions? Is he friend? Enemy? Or something else altogether?

Chino & the Boy Scouts introduces the mysterious world of Summerhill, the most outstanding feature of which is its unusual schooling system, taught through the medium of "scouting". It’s the final year of school and Chino learns of the existence of a map, through which he might unfold the legend of "the GW", an item long both speculated to be a myth and highly coveted at Eden Gardens Grammar School. Little does he know, he is not the only one bold enough to embark on this quest.

Nach China? Dahin wollte natürlich niemand mit, auch Keith nicht, ein pathologischer Lügner, der seinen sonderbaren Großvater auf die Reise hätte begleiten sollen...

Dobson, just one of those names anyone who's anyone in London knows. Elizabeth and her brother James have it all: the clubs, the money, the high life. But after the sudden death of their parents the only thing they really have is each other, and that's the way they're both determined things are going to stay. With help from Michael, James' best friend, it's the way it stays for a while, but time and the violent side of their nocturnal profession are against them at every turn.  

The author’s first novel, a tale of debauchery—sex, booze, and drugs— which follows the experiences of an English teacher in China during the happy "boom times" when China won the right to host the Olympics and was accepted into the World Trade Organization. The book also describes the author's time in Beijing during the SARS epidemic. Written in a frank but humorous style, this work provides many insights into modern Chinese society.

Der Mandarin Kao-tai reist mittels eines Zeitkompasses aus dem China des 10. Jahrhunderts ins 20. Jahrhundert nach München. Mit der Unbefangenheit, die ein Abstand von 1000 Jahren und ein völlig anderer Kulturkreis ermöglichen, beobachtet er den "Fortschritt" der "Großnasen", die nicht ruhen und rasten, sondern beständig von sich fortschreiten...

Es ist die ergreifende Geschichte des armen Bauern Wang Lung, der sich mit Fleiß, Sparsamkeit und Verzicht großen Reichtum erwirbt. Weder Hungersnöte noch Überschwemmungen können den Bauern entmutigen, auf seine "gute Erde" zu vertrauen. Doch die Freude über sein Glück wird ihm zusehends durch seine drei Söhne genommen, die keineswegs in seine Fußstapfen treten wollen.

Ein Zukunftsthriller aus dem Jahre 2027. Packend erzählt von Stefan Kaminski...

Nach "Das Flüstern der Schatten" und "Drachenspiele": Der Abschluss der China-Trilogie. Als Paul mit Christine und Sohn David seinen alten Freund Zhang besucht, wird der Vierjährige entführt. Durch glückliche Umstände gelangt er wieder zu seinen Eltern. Doch die Entführer wollen ihn zurück. Es beginnt eine Verfolgung quer durch das Reich der Mitte und in die Abgründe einer Gesellschaft in Aufruhr, immer begleitet von der Angst, David wieder zu verlieren.

Der mächtigste Mann der Welt, Qiánlóng, Kaiser von China, lädt den englischen Automatenbauer und Uhrmacher Alister Cox an seinen Hof. Der Meister aus London soll in der Verbotenen Stadt Uhren bauen, an denen die unterschiedlichen Geschwindigkeiten der Zeiten des Glücks, der Kindheit, der Liebe, auch von Krankheit und Sterben abzulesen sind. Schließlich verlangt Qiánlóng, der gemäß einem seiner zahllosen Titel auch alleiniger Herr über die Zeit ist, eine Uhr zur Messung der Ewigkeit.

England in den Dreißigerjahren: Ganz London schwärmt von Christopher Banks und seinen Erfolgen. Es gibt nur einen Fall, den der Meisterdetektiv bisher nicht aufklären konnte: Das mysteriöse Verschwinden seiner Eltern in Shanghai, der Stadt seiner Kindheit. Beide waren in den Opiumhandel verstrickt: der Vater als Profiteur, die Mutter als erklärte Gegnerin. Als die Erinnerungen an die Zeit, als er Waise wurde, Banks immer häufiger quälen, beschließt er, sich auf den Weg nach Shanghai zu machen, um endlich das größte Rätsel seines Lebens zu lösen.

Wie kann man den Fußstapfen des Vaters entkommen oder gar entwachsen, wenn dieser den Titel "Kaiser der Schuhe" innehat, eine Schuhfabrik sein Eigen nennt und auch sonst mit seinen Spleens recht einnehmend bis übergriffig ist? Der 26-jährige Bostoner Jude Alex Cohen - der bislang nur eine Aufgabe hatte: Sohn sein - versucht im chinesischen Foshan genau das. Auch mit Hilfe der Arbeiterin Ivy, die ihm ihr Leben und die jüngere Geschichte Chinas zeigt und Alex damit ganz neue Wege eröffnet.

A woman wades into the waters of Morecambe Bay in a drunken bid to commit suicide. She finds herself instead saving the life of a young Chinese cockle picker, a survivor of a tragic mass drowning. Wen and Angie share neither language nor experience, but she agrees to let him stay with her and disappear. Within a short time their unlikely pairing blossoms into something darkly passionate.

Raghu Mehta is a desperate man. His handicraft imports business has unexpectedly collapsed, cash is drying out quickly, his wife thinks he is a loser and society considers him irrelevant. Meanwhile, his closest friends and family all seem to be running flourishing businesses and living luxurious lives in the diamond capital of India. A trip to China to scout a new business offers a glimmer of hope.

Remember the '90s? I do. As a teenager in the small town of Vernal, I remember the parties and the dances and the drugs and the truancy and the evasion of authority figures. What incredible fun. I remember something else as well. I remember something the rest of that town does not. I’m not saying they’ve forgotten. I’m saying they never formed the memories in the first place. I’m talking about three days in this hick town in the American West which have been lost to history.