Eating Bitterness

Stories from the Front Lines of China’s Great Urban Migration

Michelle Loyalka

$47.95

Hardback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

University of California Press
19 March 2012

Migration, immigration & emigration; Labour economics; Development economics

"Every year over 200 million peasants flock to China's urban centers, providing a profusion of cheap labor that helps fuel the country's staggering economic growth. Award-winning journalist Michelle Dammon Loyalka follows the trials and triumphs of eight such migrants-including a vegetable vendor, an itinerant knife sharpener, a free-spirited recycler, and a cash-strapped mother-offering an inside look at the pain, self-sacrifice, and uncertainty underlying China's dramatic national transformation. At the heart of the book lies each person's ability to ""eat bitterness""-a term that roughly means to endure hardships, overcome difficulties, and forge ahead. These stories illustrate why China continues to advance, even as the rest of the world remains embroiled in financial turmoil. At the same time, Eating Bitterness demonstrates how dealing with the issues facing this class of people constitutes China's most pressing domestic challenge."

By: Michelle Loyalka
Imprint: University of California Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 210mm, Width: 140mm, Spine: 23mm
Weight: 454g
ISBN: 9780520266506
ISBN 10: 0520266501
Pages: 276
Publication Date: 19 March 2012
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Introduction 1. The Veggie Vendors 2. The Impenetrable Knife Sharpener 3. The Teenage Beauty Queens 4. The Ever- Floating Floater 5. The Landless Landlords 6. The Nowhere Nanny 7. The Opportunity Spotter 8. The Big Boss Epilogue Research Notes Acknowledgments Index

Michelle Dammon Loyalka has lived in China for 13 years, during which time she has written a language-learning textbook, launched a business consulting company, co-hosted a radio talk show in Mandarin, and headed the educational products division of a Chinese software company. A freelance journalist and editor, Loyalka holds a master's degree from the Missouri School of Journalism and currently lives in Beijing.

Reviews for Eating Bitterness: Stories from the Front Lines of China’s Great Urban Migration

What Loyalka finds is fascinating... Details ... make the book read like an ethnography, with a lot of first-hand discovery, and give it lasting power as a historical record of the biggest, fastest urbanization in human history. -- April Rabkin San Francisco Chronicle 20120408 A vivid portrait of the migrant experience in the burgeoning western Chinese city of Xi'an... An insightful look at the hard lives of real people caught in a cultural transition. Kirkus Reviews 20120201 A thorough and insightful examination of the gritty, arduous side of the Chinese economic miracle. Publishers Weekly 20120130 One of the first books to examine the complexities of rural-to-urban migration through the life stories of individuals. -- Maura Elizabeth Cunningham Pacific Standard 20120420 Eating Bitterness sheds light on another dimension of the vast spectrum of Chinese society and is a valuable addition to the nonfiction literature on China. -- Hilton Yip Asian Review Of Books 20120429 Extremely readable, with each portrait of a migrant's life qualifying as a literary short story. -- Kimiko Suda China Perspectives 20130615 The book is a welcome complement to the many monographs and economic studies that have charted China's economic progress... Highly recommended. -- F. Ng Choice 20121001