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Age of Ambition
Drawing on years of on-the-ground reporting across China, Evan Osnos’ *Age of Ambition* captures the chaotic, exhilarating, and often contradictory era of the country’s post-1978 rise. From Lin Yifu—the Taiwanese army officer who swam to mainland China to embrace reform—to Gong Haiyan, the rural girl who built China’s largest dating app, Osnos weaves intimate stories of ordinary people chasing fortune, freedom, and identity amid explosive economic growth. He also confronts the dark underbelly of this ambition: rampant corruption, strict political censorship, the moral vacuum left by decades of upheaval, and the clash between traditional values and modern individualism. Through portraits of dissidents like Ai Weiwei, activists like Chen Guangcheng, and everyday citizens navigating a rapidly changing society, the book reveals how China’s “age of ambition” is both a story of unprecedented progress and a struggle to reconcile material success with spiritual and political fulfillment.
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