Best Books About China [Top 10 Recommended Books] [2024 Update]

What are the best books on China? For example about culture, history and geography? Read on for our top 10 things to do about China.

The top 10 fascinating books about China

China – because of its location and culture – is a far cry from their bed show for many people, but there is no household that does not have anything from China at home. What do you need to know about China and what insights can help you do business with the Chinese?

We start our recommendations with the top 10 best books about China of all time. This list has been updated this year, including all the recent titles.

Best Books About China	Author
Forgotten Ally: China’s World War II, 1937-1945	Rana Mitter
Let 100 Voices Speak: How the Internet is Transforming China and Changing Everything	Liz Carter
On China	Henry Kissinger
China’s Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know	Arthur R. Kroeber
China in Ten Words	Yu Hua
Oracle Bones	Peter Hessler
Wish Lanterns: Young Lives in New China	Alec Ash
Pop Culture China! Media, Arts, and Lifestyle	Kevin Latham
The Shortest History of China	Linda Jaivin
The Monkey King	Wu Ch’eng-en

The updated top 10 list: the best books about China

All About China: Stories, Songs, Crafts and Games for Kids (All About…countries)

It can be fun to teach children some things about China, like what songs they sing there, what games they are used to playing, and what Chinese stories are essential to the country’s history.

Imperial China

If you to read on a country’s history, then this is the book you should get about China. Everything from emperors to politics and the 5,000 year old history is shared with you, and all is illustrated with amazing pictures of Chinese historical elements.

China Smart: What You Don’t Know, What You Need to Know― A Past & Present Guide to History, Culture, Society, Language

There are more books on Chinese culture, but what we like about this one is that is more recent. Larry Herzberg learned the Chinese language, and he has since been to the country 17 times. He travels with his Chinese wife or with students.

The Hundred-Year Marathon: China’s Secret Strategy to Replace America as the Global Superpower

This is not about travelling through China, but about leading world economies and how China’s strategy developed of the years. What did China to improve their status? And will predictions become reality before the year 2049?

Understanding China: A Guide to China’s Economy, History, and Political Culture

Like the third title on this top ten list, ‘Understanding China’ is more about the culture than about travelling the country and visiting rural and urban places. Find out where Chinese culture differs from your own.

Welcome to China (DK Readers)

This book is aimed at children age 7, 8 and 9, and anyone who loves adventures will also like this book. ‘Welcome to China’ shares information on the people that live in China, culture, the landscape, and many more interesting China facts.

Remembering Shanghai: A Memoir of Socialites, Scholars and Scoundrels

What we like most about ‘Remembering Shanghai’ is that it is filled with personal details from private collections. This story develops over five decades, but mainly centers around the character Isabel who revisits Shanghai with her daughter. What will they discover there about their family?

Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China

This book shows what impact Mao had on females living in China, and how things changed for the next three generations. Different roles and events are described in a remarkable and impressive way.

AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order

Are you into artificial intelligence and how far certain countries have come with the technology? Then we highly recommend reading ‘AI Superpowers’. Find out what the author thinks will be the impact of AI all over the world, and how it will affect the future.

Stealth War: How China Took Over While America’s Elite Slept

If you are more asleep than you are awake, then you will have missed the fact that the Chinese have settled in some iconic institutions in the United States. Robert Spalding, a retired Air Force General, reveals what China has done to get this far in the game. Can it be stopped? Or is it too late?