China in and beyond the Headlines

Book excerpt: In the third volume of this popular series, leading experts provide fascinating and unexpected insights into critical issues of culture, economy, politics, and society in today's China. This world, outside the reach of state control and either misunderstood or unreported in Western media, gains clarity and dimension from the fresh insights of a prominent group of activists, investigative journalists, lawyers, scholars, and travelers, who share a common interest in lessening the profound information gap between China and the rest of the world. In sixteen new essays, they address such key topics as civil society, consumerism, environmental adversity, ethnic tension, the Internet, legal reform, new media and social networking, nationalist tourism, sex and popular culture, as well the costs of urban gigantism to portray the complexity of life in contemporary China—and how, increasingly, it speaks to the everyday experience of Americans. Contributions by: David Bandurski, Susan D. Blum, Timothy Cheek, Gady Epstein, Andrew S. Erickson, Lionel M. Jensen, John Kamm, Wenquing Kang, Katherine Palmer Kaup, Travis Klingberg, Orion A. Lewis, Benjamin L. Liebman, Jonathan S. Noble, Tim Oakes, Jessica C. Teets, Alex L. Wang, and Timothy B. Weston.