Zak Dychtwald

With the ambitious objective of becoming fluent in Mandarin, Zak Dychtwald moves to China and completely immerses himself in the culture over the course of nearly a decade. In China's young adults, Dychtwald has observed a distinctive change from previous generations in their career aspirations, approach to finances, relationships, political philosophy and leisure interests, and it is his belief that this generation will mark a turning point in Chinese history.

Having picked this book up aware of only the most basic (and likely most stereotypical) facts about Chinese culture, it was a revelation from start to finish. Even had the focus of this work not been on the changes seen in young generations, it was super educational — I learned a ton about both traditional and contemporary culture. Some particularly eye-opening surprises included the percentage of young Chinese who are near-sighted and its speculative correlation with a memorization-centric education system, and that young adults today are significantly taller than their grandparents, many of whom grew up severely malnourished. Recommended for readers with interests in cultural awareness and global citizenship.… (más)