Wish Lanterns: Young Lives in New China

AS READ ON BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK

'Fluently written with nice touches of humour . . . this book supplies much food for thought' Financial Times

There are over 320 million Chinese in their teens and twenties - more than the population of the USA. Born after Mao, with no memory of Tiananmen, these offspring of the one-child policy face fierce competition to succeed.

In Wish Lanterns, Alec Ash, a writer in Beijing of the same generation, gives us a vivid, gripping account of the lives of six Chinese millennials. Dahai is a military child and netizen; 'Fred' is a daughter of the Party. Lucifer is an aspiring superstar; Snail a country migrant addicted to online games. Xiaoxiao is a hipster from the freezing north; Mia a rebel from Xinjiang in the far west.

This humane and revelatory book takes us beyond the stereotypes and flashy news headlines to show what it's really like to be young in China now. By describing the day-to-day dramas and romances, Ash illuminates the larger fears and hopes, challenges and dreams of the people who are destined to define China's future - and the world's.

'Compelling and beautifully written' Rana Mitter, Prospect

'A beautiful and thoughtful book . . . Ash has succeeded in giving us an intimate and complex portrait of the one child policy generation' Xiaolu Guo, author of I Am China