Publisher's Synopsis
In 1999, shortly after arriving in Beijing as The Times 's China correspondent, Oliver August set out on the trail of China's most wanted man, Lai Changxing. An illiterate peasant from the coastal city of Xiamen, Lai created his own shipping empire from nothing before vanishing abruptly when the Communist Party accused him of corruption and fraud. Once the richest man in the country, Lai was now public enemy number one. Oliver August's highly entertaining search for Lai takes him to the brothels, backwaters and boardrooms that define the spirit of an emerging nation. Along the way he encounters some of the extraordinary men and women whose decadent aspirations are shaping a world that has slipped its moorings. After two decades of capitalist reforms, the New China seems to have more cliches than people. Both free and oppressive, anarchic and authoritarian, totally chaotic yet highly regulated, China is changing completely while seeming to stay itself. Part recent history, part personal memoir, Inside the Red Mansion is a deeply atmospheric journey into the New China. From the austere bureaucrats of Beijing to the gilded pirate coast opposite Taiwan; from the Gobi desert plains where migrant labour is recruited, to the skyscrapers and nightclubs of boomtowns like Xiamen, Oliver August's gripping yet thoughtful account reveals the dark side of China's economic miracle and a nation finally awakening to its desires.
