Date: January 22nd 2009

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China, its economy booming, is changing at a breakneck pace, and 1.2 billion people are trying to carve a place out for themselves. A young American writer dives into the thick of it, uncovering stories from Chinese youth grappling with the reality of their ever-changing world.

Westerners having been hearing a lot about China in the past few years--but mostly about the country’s astonishing economic growth, its draconian Communist government, or its rampant pollution. While we hear plenty about how China is poised to become the next "global superpower," we hear less about the young people who make up China’s varied and fascinating subcultures.

American writer Zachary Mexico spent several years living in China, absorbing information about these subcultures, and after a period of reflection, he returned to conduct intensive research into the lifestyles of his Chinese peers. CHINA UNDERGROUND is the result of that research.

In CHINA UNDERGROUND, "an invaluable auxiliary to more rosy official guides in navigating a perplexing culture...[a] hardy, useful work of journalism," (Kirkus Reviews) and one of the 20 titles selected by Barnes & Noble to feature for Summer 2009, Mexico introduces young Western readers to their Chinese counterparts, highlighting an unfamiliar side of China--its blossoming underground cultures--fascinating yet under-exposed. Readers are introduced to a wannabe rock star from the desert of Xinjiang trying to make it big in Shanghai; a disillusioned journalist; a budding screenwriter; a vagabond ladies’ man; a straight-A student at China’s top university; a Chinese mafia kingpin, a punk band trying their best to stay relevant and many others. Mexico will change everything you thought you knew about modern China's diverse cultures, and what they have (and don't) in common with our own.

About the Author:
Zachary Mexico was born in 1979. He started studying Chinese at age fifteen, and traveled to China for the first time at age sixteen, where he lived with a Chinese family as an exchange student at the Harbin Institute of Technology. He went on to get his BA at Columbia University with additional coursework at Qinghua University in Beijing. After in 2002, he relocated to Kunming, in Yunnan Province, where he opened and operated a restaurant/nightclub. During this time, he also traveled throughout the cities and rural areas of the mainland, making friends and seeking out interesting stories. In 2006, Zachary spent several months traveling around China, collecting the series stories that make up China Underground. In 2008, he hosted a television show set at the Beijing Olympics which aired on Current TV, the new US-based television station from former Vice President Al Gore. Zachary lives in New York City's Chinatown, where he owns a bar and plays in the rock group The Octagon
(www.theoctagonrock.com) and the electronic duo Gates of Heaven (www.gatesofheaven.net).

Review copies are now available, please reply to request a copy. Interviews may also be arranged with the author who is based in New York, but will be traveling to Asia, Europe and the West Coast of the US in April and May.

Pub: April 2009
Price: $16.95
ISBN: 978-1-59376-223-0
Format: Trade Paper Original



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