Trains: A Chinese Family History of Railway Journeys, Exile, and Survival (opens in new tab)

China is a powerful nation now. Decades of fast GDP growth. The second largest economy in the world. Yet another “New Era” has been declared by yet another strong and wise leader (Mao Zedong used the phrase “New Era” as early as 1940). The official drumbeat about “the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation”—Xi Jinping’s version of “Make China Great Again”—has been deafening. The West is declining. The East is rising. The United States is stumbling. China is moving to “center stage,” says Xi...