China Mosaic

"The only way to gain a true understanding of the worlda's sleeping giant is through protracted, unscripted footwork."

With this understanding as his goal, for more than twenty years journalist Jonathan Kolatch has made annual trips to China, chronicling his experiences. Through personal interactions with a broad spectrum of Chinese--from government officials to leather-faced peasants--he has discovered startling new dimensions that help clarify our understanding of the real China. This, his latest work, helps change the perception of modern China, demystifying it and creating a compelling China Mosaic.

Fluent in Chinese, with graduate degrees in Chinese studies from Harvard and Columbia, and gifted with boundless energy and fearless curiosity, Kolatch makes his way from bustling Beijing to the far reaches of the mainland. There he engages directly with the diversity that comprises the mosaic of China: the proud Tibetans of Sichuan, the rising stars of the Communist Party, the cave-dwellers of Ningxia, the Communist free-marketers of Tianjin, tireless female softball players striving for Olympic glory, the newly rediscovered Jews of Kaifeng, the solemn coal miners of Zhangjiakou. These are not China's poster people; they are its heart and soul. China Mosaic gives voice to them all.

For Kolatch, no subject is off-limits: the smuggling of illegal aliens; the unsympathetic Chinese view of 9/11; the Communist brainwashing mechanism; the sometimes brilliant, often corrupt world of Chinese medicine; China's puppy craze; dupes; and scams. Whether exploring the ordeals of China's past, its present-day challenges, or the uncertainties of its future, China Mosaic daringly penetrates the surface to offer a candid glimpse into the nature of the giant to whose awakening Kolatch is a unique witness.

Jonathan Kolatch completed an M.A. at Harvard and a Ph.D. at Columbia in Chinese Studies. His articles on the Far East, the Middle East, and the American scene have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. He is the author of Sports, Politics and Ideology in China, Is the Moon in China Just as Round? and At the Corner of Fact & Fancy.