Leslie T. Chang has written about women in the developing world for two decades. Her book Factory Girls was named a New York Times Notable Book and has been translated into ten languages. Chang is a recipient of the PEN USA Literary Award, the Asian American Literary Award, the Tiziano Terzani International Literary Prize, the Quality Paperback Book Club New Visions Award, and the Alicia Patterson Foundation Fellowship. From 2011 to 2016, Chang lived and worked in Cairo, Egypt. Prior to that, Chang worked in China as a correspondent for The Wall Street Journal. She has also written for The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, and National Geographic. She lives in southwestern Colorado.
“Engrossing. . . an exceptionally vivid and compassionate depiction
of the day-to-day dramas, and the fears and aspirations, of the
real people who are powering China’s economic boom.”
–The New York Times Book Review
“Chang delves deeply into the world of migrant workers to find out
who these people are and what their collective dislocation means
for China. Chang skillfully sketches migrants as individuals with
their own small victories and bitter tragedies, and she captures
the surprising dynamics of this enormous but ill-understood
subculture.”
–The Washington Post
“Chang’s deeply affecting book tells the story of the invisible
foot soldiers who made China’s stirring rise possible.”
–The New York Times
“This is an irresistible book.”–People
“Excellent.”
–Chicago Tribune
“Fascinating. . . Chang powerfully conveys the individual reality
behind China’s 130 million migrant workers, the largest migration
in human history.”
–The Boston Globe
“Chang reveals a world staggering in its dimensions, unprecedented
in its topsy-turvy effects on China’s conservative culture, and
frenetic in its pace. . . Chang deftly weaves her own family’s
story of migrations within China, and finally to the West, into her
fascinating portrait. . . Factory Girls is a keen-eyed look at
contemporary Chinese life composed of equal parts of new global
realties, timeless stories of human striving, and intelligent
storytelling at its best.”
–San Francisco Chronicle
“Both entertaining and poignant. . . Chang’s fine prose and her
keen sense of detail more than compensate for the occasional
digression, and her book is an intimate portrait of a strange and
hidden landscape.”
–The New Yorker
“A compelling, atmospheric look at seldom-seen China.”
–BusinessWeek
“Chang, a journalist at the Wall Street Journal, spent two years
reporting in the gritty southern boomtown of Dongguan trying to put
human faces on these workers, and the ones she finds are
extraordinary. They are, more than anything else, the face of
modern China: a country increasingly turning away from its rural
roots and turbulent past and embracing a promising but uncertain
future. . . The painstaking work Chang put into befriending these
girls and drawing out their stories is evident, as is the genuine
affection she has for them and their spirit.”
–Time
“In her impressive new book, Factory Girls: From Village to City in
a Changing China, former Wall Street Journal reporter Leslie T.
Chang explores this boom that's simultaneously emptying China's
villages of young people and fueling its economic growth. . . To be
sure, this mass migration is a big and well-told story. But Chang
brings to it a personal touch: her own forebears were migrants, and
she skillfully weaves through the narrative tales of their border
crossings. She also succeeds in grounding the trend in wider social
context, suggesting that the aspirations of these factory girls
signal a growing individualism in China's socialist culture.”
–Newsweek
“Elegant. . . Chang is less interested in exposé than in getting to
know the young women of Dongguan’s assembly lines. Factory Girls
reveals the workplace through the workers’ eyes.”
–Financial Times
“A real coup. . . Chang, a former Beijing correspondent for The
Wall Street Journal, does more than describe harsh factory
conditions. She writes about the way the workers themselves see
migration, bringing us views that are rarely heard. Factory Girls
is highly readable and even amusing in many places, despite the
seriousness of the subject. In the pages of this book, these
factory girls come to life.”
–Christian Science Monitor
“Amazing. . . a fascinating ethnography of the young women who
labor in the factories of Guangdong, China’s richest province, a
land of boomtowns where wealth and scams and exploitation and
warmth and courage all abound. . . I must have read fifty books
about China this year, but this stands out as one of the best.”
–Boingboing.net
“A gifted storyteller, Chang crafts a work of universal
relevance.”
–Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“In-depth reporting [that] contributes significantly to our
knowledge about China’s development.”
–Kirkus Reviews
“Rising head and shoulders above almost all other new books about
China, this unflinching and yearningly compassionate portrait of
the lives and loves of ordinary Chinese workers is quite
unforgettable: it presents the first long, hard look we have ever
taken at the people who are due to become, before very much longer,
the new masters of the world.”
–Simon Winchester, author of The Man Who Loved China
“Often people ask me, ‘What’s it like for women in China
today?’ From now on I'll recommend Leslie Chang’s Factory
Girls, which is brilliant, thoughtful, and insightful. This
book is also for anyone who's ever wondered how their sneakers,
Christmas ornaments, toys, designer clothes, or computers are
made. The stories of these factory girls are not only
mesmerizing, tragic, and inspiring -- true examples
of persistence, endurance, and loneliness -- but Chang
has also woven in her own family’s history, shuttling north and
south through China to examine this complicated
country’s past, present, and future.”
–Lisa See, author of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
"Engrossing. . . an exceptionally vivid and compassionate depiction
of the day-to-day dramas, and the fears and aspirations, of the
real people who are powering China's economic boom."
-The New York Times Book Review
"Chang delves deeply into the world of migrant workers to find out
who these people are and what their collective dislocation means
for China. Chang skillfully sketches migrants as individuals with
their own small victories and bitter tragedies, and she captures
the surprising dynamics of this enormous but ill-understood
subculture."
-The Washington Post
"Chang's deeply affecting book tells the story of the invisible
foot soldiers who made China's stirring rise possible."
-The New York Times
"This is an irresistible book."-People
"Excellent."
-Chicago Tribune
"Fascinating. . . Chang powerfully conveys the individual reality
behind China's 130 million migrant workers, the largest migration
in human history."
-The Boston Globe
"Chang reveals a world staggering in its dimensions,
unprecedented in its topsy-turvy effects on China's conservative
culture, and frenetic in its pace. . . Chang deftly weaves her own
family's story of migrations within China, and finally to the West,
into her fascinating portrait. . . Factory Girls is a
keen-eyed look at contemporary Chinese life composed of equal parts
of new global realties, timeless stories of human striving, and
intelligent storytelling at its best."
-San Francisco Chronicle
"Both entertaining and poignant. . . Chang's fine prose and her
keen sense of detail more than compensate for the occasional
digression, and her book is an intimate portrait of a strange and
hidden landscape."
-The New Yorker
"A compelling, atmospheric look at seldom-seen China."
-BusinessWeek
"Chang, a journalist at the Wall Street Journal, spent two
years reporting in the gritty southern boomtown of Dongguan trying
to put human faces on these workers, and the ones she finds are
extraordinary. They are, more than anything else, the face of
modern China: a country increasingly turning away from its rural
roots and turbulent past and embracing a promising but uncertain
future. . . The painstaking work Chang put into befriending these
girls and drawing out their stories is evident, as is the genuine
affection she has for them and their spirit."
-Time
"In her impressive new book, Factory Girls: From Village to City
in a Changing China, former Wall Street Journal reporter
Leslie T. Chang explores this boom that's simultaneously emptying
China's villages of young people and fueling its economic growth. .
. To be sure, this mass migration is a big and well-told story. But
Chang brings to it a personal touch: her own forebears were
migrants, and she skillfully weaves through the narrative tales of
their border crossings. She also succeeds in grounding the trend in
wider social context, suggesting that the aspirations of these
factory girls signal a growing individualism in China's socialist
culture."
-Newsweek
"Elegant. . . Chang is less interested in expose than in getting to
know the young women of Dongguan's assembly lines. Factory
Girls reveals the workplace through the workers' eyes."
-Financial Times
"A real coup. . . Chang, a former Beijing correspondent for
The Wall Street Journal, does more than describe harsh
factory conditions. She writes about the way the workers themselves
see migration, bringing us views that are rarely heard. Factory
Girls is highly readable and even amusing in many places,
despite the seriousness of the subject. In the pages of this book,
these factory girls come to life."
-Christian Science Monitor
"Amazing. . . a fascinating ethnography of the young women who
labor in the factories of Guangdong, China's richest province, a
land of boomtowns where wealth and scams and exploitation and
warmth and courage all abound. . . I must have read fifty books
about China this year, but this stands out as one of the best."
-Boingboing.net
"A gifted storyteller, Chang crafts a work of universal
relevance."
-Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"In-depth reporting [that] contributes significantly to our
knowledge about China's development."
-Kirkus Reviews
"Rising head and shoulders above almost all other new books about
China, this unflinching and yearningly compassionate portrait of
the lives and loves of ordinary Chinese workers is quite
unforgettable: it presents the first long, hard look we have ever
taken at the people who are due to become, before very much longer,
the new masters of the world."
-Simon Winchester, author of The Man Who Loved China
"Often people ask me, 'What's it like for women in China today?'
From now on I'll recommend Leslie Chang's Factory Girls,
which is brilliant, thoughtful, and insightful. This book is also
for anyone who's ever wondered how their sneakers, Christmas
ornaments, toys, designer clothes, or computers are made. The
stories of these factory girls are not only mesmerizing, tragic,
and inspiring -- true examples of persistence, endurance, and
loneliness -- but Chang has also woven in her own family's history,
shuttling north and south through China to examine this complicated
country's past, present, and future."
-Lisa See, author of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
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