Reddit reviews Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China

> People have the government they deserve.

Sorry for the double-post, but I just found a great quote in Age of Ambition that turns this idea on its head. It's regarding when that little girl was run over by a bread-loaf van, and no one stopped to help her.

>I asked Chen how he would’ve responded if he had seen the little girl in the road. He said nothing for a moment.

>“If it was before Reform and Opening Up, I would have rushed out and risked my life to save her,” he said. “But after? I would probably hesitate. I wouldn’t be that brave. That’s what I’m trying to say: this is the world we’re in now.” Chen had a granddaughter, and I asked, “When she grows up, what kind of person do you want her to be?”

>“That depends on what’s going on in society,” he said. “If good people run things, she should be a good person. If it’s bad people, well, you have no
choice but to be bad.”

From this pespective, the government gets the society that it deserves.

We'd say that individuals make up society, and determine its character. It it fails, that is our fault somehow. Personal responsibility is a big deal to us.

This is more Confucian: If the people be led by laws, and uniformity sought to be given them by punishments, they will try to avoid the punishment, but have no sense of shame. If they be led by virtue, and uniformity sought to be given them by the rules of propriety, they will have the sense of shame, and moreover will become good.

Great book, BTW:

http://www.amazon.com/Age-Ambition-Chasing-Fortune-Truth/dp/0374535272

> Anyone recommend some useful books that can help me

http://www.amazon.com/Brief-History-Neoliberalism-David-Harvey/dp/0199283273

http://www.amazon.com/Dealing-China-Insider-Economic-Superpower/dp/1455504211/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1452819640&sr=8-4&keywords=China+economy

http://www.amazon.com/Age-Ambition-Chasing-Fortune-Truth/dp/0374535272/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1452819640&sr=8-1&keywords=China+economy

http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-China-Economy-History-Political/dp/0809016516/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1452819640&sr=8-2&keywords=China+economy

The New Yorker wrote about this in 2011:

> We settled into coach on an Air China non-stop flight to Frankfurt, and I opened a Chinese packet of “Outbound Group Advice,” which we’d been urged to read carefully. The specificity of the instructions suggested a history of unpleasant surprises: “Don’t travel with knockoffs of European goods, because customs inspectors will seize them and penalize you.”

The same guy who wrote that piece published a book last year on his experiences in modern China:

Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China.

We shall see, but I get what you’re saying. If you haven’t read it “Age of Ambition” is a really great book on life inside modern China. I highly recommend it. It’s also quite entertaining.

https://www.amazon.com/Age-Ambition-Chasing-Fortune-Truth/dp/0374535272