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THE SHORTEST HISTORY OF CHINA (2021)

It’s no mean feat to cover the entire history of China in fifteen chapters, but Linda Jaivin manages it with panache.
Louisa Lim

Number 1 on Five Books Best China Books of 2021.

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Linda Jaivin is an Australian writer, the author of twelve books (seven novels and five works of non-fiction including the Quarterly Essay Found in Translation: In Praise of a Plural World). Her newest book is The Shortest History of China, out in May 2021 with Black Inc in Australia and in September 2021 in the US with The Experiment and in the UK with Old Street Publishing. She lives in Sydney.

Photo by Anna Hay

PODCAST

China: The First Emperor

With contributions from Frances Wood, author of The First Emperor; Steve Tsang, The Political Thought of Xi Jinping; Amanda Hsiao, senior China analyst for the Crisis Group; Nathan Law, exiled activist, Hong Kong Umbrella Movement; Chris Buckley, Chief China correspondent of the New York Times now based in Taiwan; plus Paul French, Linda Jaivin, Tania Branigan and Ian Johnson, author of Sparks.

Presenter Misha Glenny is the author of McMafia and a former Central Europe correspondent for the BBC. The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde.

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