Wang Jibing

3.51075 learners

As a meal delivery rider navigating China’s bustling cities, Wang Jibing lives a life defined by the ticking clock—every order is a race, every minute a battle against late fees and customer impatience. His days blur into a cycle of rushing through streets, enduring cold winds, and hiding physical pain (a severed tendon in his finger leaves him with a permanent hook). But beneath the chaos lies a quiet rebellion: he writes poetry. Scrawled between deliveries, on his scooter seat, or in his tiny rental room, his verses are a lifeline—they pull him back to his rural hometown, to the memory of his beloved parents, and to the man he was before the city reduced him to a nameless “next rider.” This collection weaves raw, intimate stories of daily struggle, grief over his parents’ passing, longing for home, and quiet acts of kindness toward fellow gig workers and strangers. It’s a vivid portrait of a man clinging to his identity while running against time, proving that even in the harshest circumstances, art can be a refuge.

Liang Hong

5663 learners

In *Leaving Liang Village*, author Liang Hong returns to her rural hometown in central China to document the quiet crises and unspoken struggles of its people. Through intimate interviews and on-the-ground observations, she follows Liang Village’s residents as they scatter across China’s cities—Xi’an, Beijing, Shenzhen, Qingdao—chasing jobs, money, and a shot at a better life. From underpaid rickshaw drivers enduring police harassment to factory workers breathing toxic fumes, from college-educated migrants stuck in dead-end jobs to left-behind villagers grappling with loss and apathy, each story lays bare the harsh realities of China’s migrant labor system. Hong doesn’t just highlight the physical toll of long hours and dangerous work; she captures the emotional weight of fractured families, lost identities, and the impossible choice between clinging to village roots and surviving in unforgiving cities. A raw, unflinching portrait of a community caught between tradition and modernity, this book gives voice to millions of invisible workers shaping China’s rise.

Martin Lindstrom

4.3548 learners

In *Brandwashed*, veteran marketer Martin Lindstorm pulls back the curtain on the hidden tactics brands use to manipulate consumer behavior—starting with his own eye-opening year-long "brand detox" experiment, which he shockingly failed. Lindstorm reveals how brands infiltrate our lives from before birth, leveraging maternal sensory exposure to implant lifelong preferences. He explores how marketers target children with addictive ads, exploit fear and peer pressure to drive purchases, use nostalgia to trigger emotional connections, and wield data mining to track every consumer move. Through groundbreaking experiments like the Morgensons family social test, he proves that peer recommendations and trusted social circles are far more persuasive than traditional ads. Packed with neuroscience insights and real-world case studies, this book empowers readers to recognize the invisible forces shaping their buying decisions and reclaim control over their spending.

Liu Qing；Yan Fei

3.3546 learners

From the shores of Walden Pond to Harvard’s hallowed halls, scholars Liu Qing and Yan Fei engage in intimate, thought-provoking dialogues during their year as visiting fellows at the Harvard-Yenching Institute. Drawing on personal reflections, classic works like *Walden* and *The World of Yesterday*, and cutting-edge social theory, they unpack the quiet crises of modern life: the suffocating grip of hustle culture, the erosion of humanistic education, the persistent ache of nostalgia in a rapidly changing world, and the struggle to confront pain instead of avoiding it. They also tackle urgent public issues, from anti-intellectualism’s rise to the moral duty of scholars in public discourse. More than academic debates, these conversations offer actionable wisdom for anyone feeling adrift in chaos—teaching readers to find meaning in daily moments, rebuild genuine human connections, and reclaim their sense of purpose amid modernity’s noise.

Cai Chongda

3.4476 learners

In *Skins*, Cai Chongda weaves raw, intimate tales of his coastal southern Chinese hometown, focusing on unshakable family bonds and the quiet resilience of ordinary people. Through vivid portraits—his 99-year-old great-grandmother Ah Tai, whose tough wisdom frames the body as a tool not a cage; his mother, clinging to finishing her late husband’s half-built house to anchor their fractured family; his father, grappling with dignity after a devastating stroke—Cai explores the fragile line between physical shells and the soul. He also delves into colorful townsfolk: misunderstood entrepreneur Zhang Meili, boys chasing distant Hong Kong dreams, and fiery college student Hou Pu, whose unbridled passion leads to tragedy. Blending memoir with sharp observations on small-town life and urban alienation, *Skins* is a heartfelt meditation on love, loss, and finding your way back to yourself when life’s currents pull you adrift.