The Shanghai Free Taxi
Journeys with the Hustlers and Rebels of the New China
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4.2 • 6 Ratings
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
As any traveler knows, some of the best and most honest conversations take place during car rides. So, when a long-time NPR correspondent wanted to learn more about the real China, he started driving a cab--and discovered a country amid seismic political and economic change.
China--America's most important competitor--is at a turning point. With economic growth slowing, Chinese people face inequality and uncertainty as their leaders tighten control at home and project power abroad.
In this adventurous, original book, NPR correspondent Frank Langfitt describes how he created a free taxi service--offering rides in exchange for illuminating conversation--to go beyond the headlines and get to know a wide range of colorful, compelling characters representative of the new China. They include folks like "Beer," a slippery salesman who tries to sell Langfitt a used car; Rocky, a farm boy turned Shanghai lawyer; and Chen, who runs an underground Christian church and moves his family to America in search of a better, freer life.
Blending unforgettable characters, evocative travel writing, and insightful political analysis, The Shanghai Free Taxi is a sharply observed and surprising book that will help readers make sense of the world's other superpower at this extraordinary moment.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Langfitt, a former NPR China correspondent, offers an engaging exploration of China in a moment of economic growth and cultural upheaval. As a foreign journalist trying to understand the perspectives of ordinary people in a famously circumspect culture, Langfitt hit upon the idea of offering "free cab rides in exchange for conversation." The result is a collection of fascinating journalistic narratives that introduce memorable individuals such as brothers Rocky and Ray, who traded farm work for law jobs in Shanghai; Fifi, an idealistic psychologist and former teacher who says that she feels safer and more free outside her country; Ashley, the daughter of Communist Party officials who seeks an American MBA and more intellectual diversity than she finds in China; and Chen, a pajama salesman and member of an underground Christian church who eventually moves to America in search of a less competitive, more tolerant culture. Langfitt also gauges his contacts' reactions to the Brexit morass, the election of Donald Trump, and their attempts to navigate the parallel resurgence of popular nationalism and political authoritarianism in their own country. This engaging work is sure to interest those who have enjoyed Langfitt's NPR reporting or who are curious about contemporary Chinese culture and politics.
