Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China
TO MY MIND, THOUGH, there is a third development that has altered our parenting experience above all others, and that is the wholesale transformation of the child’s role, both in the home and in society. Since the end of World War II, childhood has been completely redefined. Today, we work hard to shield children from life’s hardships. But througho... See more
Jennifer Senior • All Joy and No Fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood
The adoption by the provincial gentry of literati ideals (and bureaucratic ambitions) was a vital stage in China’s transition from a semi-feudal society, where power was wielded by great landholders, into an agrarian empire. What made that possible was an imperial system that relied much less on the coercive power of the imperial centre (a clumsy a
... See moreJohn Darwin • After Tamerlane: The Rise and Fall of Global Empires, 1400-2000
Even then, China’s turmoil did not end. The new state embarked on a Soviet-style centrally planned economy in the 1950s, but Mao became impatient with the results by the end of the 1950s and launched the Great Leap Forward to accelerate industrialization. The result was chaos and starvation, as farmers were required to leave the fields and devote t
... See moreJeffrey D. Sachs • The Ages of Globalization: Geography, Technology, and Institutions
It didn’t matter how much effort you put into your independent plot or how much food you actually produced, because the party simply took it. No matter how carefully you’d tended your crop, your overall annual allocation remained the same. What kind of motivation does that provide?