China High: My Fast Times in the 010: A Beijing Memoir

By Z.Z.

Book Overview

A swaggering true tale of sex, drugs and money in the new young professional class in China ZZ's parents got him out of Communist China-but now that he's got his American education (including a law degree), under his belt, and now that China loves a go-getting capitalist like ZZ, what better time to return? America was never the "Wild East" like this one: Beijing is the perfect place to start a business, live large, and get a piece of every lissome girl, hash cigarette and bottle of Cristal China has to offer. ZZ taps into China's unreliable butplentiful workforce of "spit-,n-squatters" to start his brainchild, Goodiez, which delivers food all over Beijing. ZZ is the perfect guide to the real new Beijing: he's got insider's cred but an outsider's eye for the strange mores and daily annoyances of Chinese life. In China High , he offers a rare glimpse into the world of guan xi (a network of favors), the insidious importance of "face", and into the clubs and cafes- with all their above-ground and below-ground pleasures- frequented by the new young professional class in China.But ZZ's glam urban life comes to a crashing halt when he's picked up by the police for smoking an opium-laced pot "Zigarette." None of ZZ's connections do more than get him a few extra dumplings at chow-time in Sunshine Prison, where unable to bribe his way out, he is forced to take a serious look at the life he has been leading.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312531087
• ISBN13: 9780312531089
• Release Date: March 2009
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.04 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.7" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Even old China hands can learn new things from this book

I've read so many books now by foreigners who share their experiences in China that I sometimes feel like I can't learn anything new from the latest memoirs. But "China High" really surprised me. The author writes about both contemporary Beijing and a Beijing that has already passed. For example, his descriptions of seedy Sanlitun are largely a bygone era now that the vast majority of the bar street is owned by Britain's Swire Corporation. What I really appreciated about "China High" is the fact that we don't have many books written from the perspective of ABC's (American Born Chinese). Technically, the writer isn't an ABC - he was born in China and moves to the U.S. as a pre-teen and then moves back to China. But it's obvious from the writing style and his perception that he has a more Western mind. Many white foreigners in China will talk about their experiences being recruited for movies, teaching English, modeling, etc. That doesn't happen often for Westerners who look of Asian descent. So I really appreciated learning about his experiences in Beijing. Finally, the writer is just simply funny. I cracked up at many of his descriptions. For example, the way he describes the people who ride the three-wheeled tricycles as "road lice." C'mon, you've thought it before! If you want a book to better understand Beijing and have a few laughs along the way, I highly recommend "China High."

Do not judge this book by its cover

You'll have to finish the whole book to know what it's really trying to say. If you were like me in the beginning, who just wanted to get a glimpse of the fast life in Beijing, then you would be annoyed and even offended. Fortunately, there's much more to this book than its cover. It's an interesting read with some good twists. What I like most is its honesty even though some parts did remind me of Hollywood movies.

Trashy first half that sets up brilliant second half.

Although the prose isn't great and painful at it's worst, China High is a worthy read. As a memoir, it is just outlandish enough to be exciting yet retains enough veracity to be believable. Read the kindle version. Formatting was fine - on par with most other kindle books I've read. If you've read the book - a bit of digging will revel that "China Goodies" is the actual business of "Foodies" and ZZ is "Zhao Zhan" - a 1996 graduate of Brandies and 1999 grad of Boston College Law who worked at Sidley in Beijing.

Higher and Higher

"China High" is a snappy narrative that captures the hipster buzz of nighttime Beijing. The club scene is intense, fueled by an overabundance of babes in tight jeans. Hallucinogens flow freely. Dancing, rumbling, raving -- every kind of youthful excess is on tap, 24/7. The author is identified only as "ZZ," a Shanghai-born, American-schooled lawyer/entrepreneur who is addled by the charms of life in the fast lane. His self-portrait features killer abs, a carefully cultivated sense of superiority and frequent puffs on a joint. He wrote this book before the global economic meltdown, but the anything-goes mentality in Beijing may not quiet very fast. China's changing society -- inherently unstable and liberating for the younger set -- has its own momentum. And it is fertile ground for a budding storyteller like ZZ. His publisher calls the book a memoir, but it feels more like a novel. The characterizations, dialogue and fine sense of comic timing can't possibly come from memory alone. Besides, ZZ seems to have been high most of the time. The gauzy, opinionated impressions of this bi-cultural connoisseur are far more interesting than what actually happened. The story bounces around. When it opens, ZZ has already quit a high-salaried gig as a corporate lawyer to launch his own start-up business, Foodiez, a food delivery service that relies on motorcycles and underpaid delivery boys. He spends his time mapping out nightspots in Sanlitun, formerly a gray and dusty quarter, now dripping with flashy neon. One of ZZ's favorite stops is Café 44, a name that plays off a competing bar, 88, and on the Chinese penchant for double names. "Had it not been for 44," he writes, "I would never have met Baby Baby, Cutie Cutie or many other girls with looks straight out of Final Fantasy and double-double names that I once thought were special." ZZ's rendition of local slang, with his refrain of "cao-ta-ma-de" (unprintable in English), is pitch-perfect. And with comely chicks cycling through his bedroom and a thriving social network that allows him to avoid intimacy, ZZ embodies the inchoate confusion of youth. He is addicted to and weary of the constant stimulation available in Beijing, yet does not quite know how to look for something more. Events intercede. Out of nowhere, ZZ gets thrown in jail. Apparently those joints he's been smoking were laced with opium, and he can't figure out who tipped off the cops. He seems to have spent real time in a Chinese jail. It is crowded. It is filthy. It is cold. There is a taut pecking order. Connections and obsequiousness rule the day, just like anywhere in Chinese officialdom. Yet his fellow cellmates are rich material in themselves, and he draws them out with touching sensitivity. A funny thing happens, too. Being forced to sit still for days on end actually does ZZ some good. So does his openness to spiritual instruction from the "boss" of his cell. ZZ takes a look at himself and the causes of his restlessness. Me