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Private Revolutions

Coming of Age in a New China

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Private Revolutions

By: Yuan Yang
Narrated by: Crystal Yu, Gabby Wong, Kae Alexander, Naomi Yang, Yuan Yang
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About this listen

Bloomsbury presents Private Revolutions by Yuan Yang, read by Gabby Wong, Crystal Yu, Kae Alexander, Naomi Yang and Yuan Yang .

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2025
SHORTLISTED FOR THE RSL ONDAAJTE PRIZE 2025

A Financial Times, New York Times and Times/Sunday Times Book of the Year

'As powerfully intimate as it is politically incendiary' VOGUE
'Private Revolutions could be a Netflix series, for family, violence and romance abound' IRISH TIMES
'A portrait of China through four women who refused to accept the life laid out for them. Incredible' SUNDAY TIMES
'A revelatory, moving and tender tale of hopes, fears and change' PETER FRANKOPAN

Yuan Yang, the first Chinese-born British MP, tells the stories of four Chinese women striving for a better future in an unequal society. From June, who dreams of going to university rather than raising pigs, to Sam, forced into hiding as her activist peers are lifted from the streets, this is a singularly immersive portrait of a rapidly changing nation – and of the courage of those caught in the swell.

©2024 Yuan Yang (P)2024 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Asia Politics & Government Women in Business World China

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I enjoyed listening to this book. Yang designed the book intelligently, telling the stories of individuals by blending individual experience with the momentous changes and political backdrop of Modern China. The book gave a sense of the tensions that individual people, especially from rural and disadvantaged areas, have had to shoulder as their country has changed beyond recognition.

Interesting listen, blending historic change with individual lives

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China is something one doesn’t really learn about in school. Yes it’s big, yes it’s nominally communist.

This book illuminates China from a 2D reference for “far away” to real people struggling or thriving against a backdrop of bureaucracy.

It is written in a clear engaging style, it has the clarity of Orwell’s travel writing, but with Kate Adie’s from our own correspondent’s quiet unobtrusive empathy.

Well worth a listen

An engaging portrait of modern China

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At first I thought the way the chapters are organised might make it hard to follow the threads of individual stories, but in the end I got absorbed by the details and fully immersed in each woman's story. It helped that each story had a different narrator and the narration was also excellent, although not all of the Chinese place names were pronounced correctly, but that was only a minor issue in an otherwise great listen.

Fascinating insights into women's lives

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