This is China! blog

I just found out today from the program coordinator of a conference at which I’ll be delivering the closing (rousing) presentation in March in Shanghai that she just downloaded my book China Inside Out onto her Kindle in the States. Another friend in America told me today that her print order for the book on Amazon just went out.

It seems book distribution has finally leaped over the Pacific Ocean from Asia to North America, where you should be able to find the book at a book shop near you.

Shop for the book on: Kindle( USA), Kindle (UK).

Technorati Tags: china, china inside out, publication

2010 was certainly a memorable year for me. Santa’s elves brought me a beautiful mid-Spring gift in the birth of my first child, my son Asher. And just a couple days after Christmas the elves express delivered an advance, printed copy of my first book, China Inside Out: 10 Irreversible Trends Reshaping China and its Relationship with the World. The book delivery means the book is now available in Asia, and should be hitting English-language bookstores throughout the region. In China, that means Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou, Chengdu and Hong Kong, in the least. For the rest of Asia, it means the major bookstore chains in the capitals of Asian countries.

I’ve set up a separate blog for the book at the address: ChinaInsideOut.info. I didn’t want  my personal blog This Is China! to become the BOOK BLOG. ChinaInsideOut.info will present the latest news items that track the 10 trends I discuss in the book. I’ll also talk about the writing and editing process behind the book (as exhausting as any pregnancy, you ask me), as well as post some out-takes from the original manuscript (some of which you’ll likely think, “Yeah, that should have been out-taken.”). I’ll also post upcoming speaking engagements related to the book, so you’ll be able to catch me at conferences and book readings should they be open to the public in your area. I’ll still from time to time post book-related items on this blog, but the bulk of material will appear at ChinaInsideOut.info.

The book will be available in the USA, United Kingdom and Europe before the end of January 2011.

I wish all my readers a happy and prosperous 2011.

I also wish for book sales.

And an iPad.

The Diplomat has posted an exclusive excerpt from my upcoming book China Inside Out: 10 Irreversible Trends Re-shaping China and Its Relationship with the World, in which I discuss my meeting with Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo and the implications of Charter 08 for Chinese access to the internet.

The cover’s up on Amazon.com for my almost-published book, China Inside Out: 10 Irreversible Trends Re-shaping China and its Relationship with the World. The publisher (John Wiley & Sons) has also posted a synopsis of each of the ten trends for readers to contemplate, each of which has its own chapter. The book should be available the end of November this year in Asia; and just in time to miss Christmas in the USA and UK. At least, it better be, as I nearly killed myself meeting the publisher’s and copy editor’s ambitious deadlines. The publisher has also slashed the price by 30% on Amazon on the pre-order version of the book. Such a deal!

OK, so my royalties will take a hit and my little one’s college fund will have to be delayed; but it’s better than not selling any books at all!

Technorati Tags: book reviews, china, china inside out - the book

Though I am bald I know what a bad hair day is like (I used to have hair, you know): it’s when you just can’t get that cow lick down or that set of bangs straight or that afro even. It’s also a feeling. The day has started out poorly and you know it’s going to not go as smoothly as you like and you know it’s going to end in tears (yours or “theirs”).

Well, today I had a “bad google” day here in China. I am up to my armpits in copy edit – alligators for my new book (China Inside Out) and the editor expects me to actually be accurate with my footnotes (the sheer nerve!). In some instances that requires my digging up the original article, re-reading it and making sure I said what I meant and meant what I said and annotated it all. I use google to do that. Or, at least, that was my plan today.

But the GFW foiled my plans, with constant “Resets” to my web page searches via google. It wasn’t as though I was googling porn or historical faux pas the powers that be would rather forget (as well as have the rest of the world follow). The GFW also thwarted the vpn I use to get at the North American version of google; access to the search engine was patchy at best.  I was so frustrated and irritated I actually started using alternative search engines like Bing (good for article searches) and dogpile (good for images). As a matter of principal I refuse to use Baidu, as they are in bed with the nefarious technochiks who are getting up my nose while I try to do my work.

The more censors interfere with ubiquitous technologies in the name of leveling a domestic playing field by cheating, the more I root for the other guy. Bending the rules (even if they’re the WTO’s), will only hurt the spectators.

NOTE: The photo above was taken this past summer at a tour of a solar cell factory in China. Thanks to the wise guys I work with for the make-over. -bd

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The cover for my new book – China Inside Out: 10 Irreversible Trends Re-shaping China and Its Relationship with the World – just came out. I think it looks cool. Kudos to the Production Team at the Singapore Division of publishing company – John Wiley and Sons – and especially to the graphic designer. When I met the production team at the publisher’s Singapore office in the Spring, the production team asked me for my ideas on the cover. I hadn’t any, really; though we all agreed: NO DRAGONS!

The cover is on the John Wiley site, but hasn’t been placed on the Amazon page for the book. Certainly, the book seems way less abstract than ever before, with a “face” to it.

I do hope readers find the book presents as many surprises if not insights as the cover suggests.

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