Michael Meyer, Author, In Manchuria: A Village Called Wasteland and The Transformation of Rural China and The Last Days of Old Beijing

Meyer draws on his three-year residence in his wife’s hometown of Wasteland, Manchuria, to bring to life a sweeping view of a rapidly changing China. Once a commune, the rice-farming village was transformed in a process that has been repeated across rural China: A privately owned company moved in, paved new roads, introduced organic farming, and provided workers apartments in new high-rise buildings – in exchange for their land rights. Using Wasteland as a fulcrum, Meyer weaves in Manchuria’s rich past – from the last Chinese emperor through Japanese occupation to communist victory – to help make sense of variegated contemporary China.