Getting Rich First: Life in a Changing China

‘A gripping account of modern China’s transformation- Duncan Hewitt introduces us to the new Chinese - the entrepreneurs and the migrant workers, the ambitious students and the young lovers, the real estate agents and restaurant owners, the performance artists and those who search for new faiths. This is living history written from the inside’ - John Gittings, author of The Changing Face of China.

Welcome to the new China, a nation in perpetual fast forward - where cities rebuild themselves in double quick time, peasants leave the land in their millions, and parents scratch their heads as the young generation embraces pop culture, the internet and the sexual revolution, while the new middle-classes rush to enjoy previously unimaginable lifestyles, the ruling Communist Party struggles to keep up with shifting values among calls for a more open media and society and an ever-growing wealth gap.

Through individual stories, former BBC correspondent Duncan Hewitt paints a memorable picture of China in all its complex, contradictory, often startling reality.