by far the most well-informed and entertaining account of life in the Middle Kingdom by an Indian …' Sunil Sethi, India Today India and China share a 3500 km border and have interacted with each other for over 2000 years. It is remarkable then that their people know so little of each other: what they think, how they live, their language, customs and philosophy. Or even their cuisine.Very much the average Indian in her knowledge of China when she set out for Beijing in 2002, Pallavi Aiyar soon became intrigued by the country and its strange mix of material prosperity and authoritarianism. As she compares it with India's experience of development, Pallavi Aiyar provides a perceptive analysis of the strengths and weakness of the process in both countries.An intimate look at a society undergoing relentless change, Smoke and Mirrors: An Experience of China destroys many clichés as it opens new gateways through the Great Wall of China.
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