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Street of Eternal Happiness: Big City Dreams Along a Shanghai Road
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An unforgettable portrait of individuals who hope, struggle, and grow along a single street cutting through the heart of Chinas most exhilarating metropolis, from one of the most acclaimed broadcast journalists reporting on China today.
Modern Shanghai: a global city in the midst of a renaissance, where dreamers arrive each day to partake in a mad torrent of capital,
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Rob Schmitz
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Start your review of Street of Eternal Happiness: Big City Dreams Along a Shanghai Road
Rob Schmitz writes about the residents of Changle Road and personifies modern day Shanghai (and to an extend, China) through these different generations and backgrounds. The focus on a single street is clever, and the stories are compelling. Street of Eternal Happiness is also both a good history lesson as well as a context-provider of today. But at the same time, it does feel too broad. It glances over the same details that have been written about before in much finer detail and way before
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Apr 17, 2019
Kes
rated it
it was amazing
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review of another edition
Shelves:
non-fiction,
read-2019
I loved this book and how readable it was. It's a book which explores the aspirations of some of the residents of a single street in Shanghai. We meet various individuals - Schmitz frames each individual's history with their individual background and Chinese history (including the cultural revolution and Deng Xiaoping).
Uncle Feng and Auntie Fu deal with being part of the communist revolution and making choices for themselves. Auntie Fu gets constantly caught up in scams. Zhao deals with the ...more
Uncle Feng and Auntie Fu deal with being part of the communist revolution and making choices for themselves. Auntie Fu gets constantly caught up in scams. Zhao deals with the ...more
This book was the 2nd choice of my siblings and me for a book to read on China for our upcoming book club meeting, at which we will tour the Terra Cotta Warriors exhibit at the Franklin Institute, and then have a Chinese Meal while we discuss the book we selected (China Road by Rob Gifford). After reading China Road, I was hungry to learn more about China, and so decided to read "Street of Eternal Happiness." I think I learned much more about modern day Chinese society, though not geography,
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I received a free copy of this book through the Goodreads Giveaway.
This books looks at the recent economic history of China, under Communism (or what passes for Communism in China), through a micro lens by telling the stories of various individuals and families who live on the Street of Eternal Happiness where the author, an economic journalist lives. The stories are told episodically and individually are very interesting and provides a picture of the experiences of three generations of Chinese ...more
This books looks at the recent economic history of China, under Communism (or what passes for Communism in China), through a micro lens by telling the stories of various individuals and families who live on the Street of Eternal Happiness where the author, an economic journalist lives. The stories are told episodically and individually are very interesting and provides a picture of the experiences of three generations of Chinese ...more
I read quite a bit about China, and the competition among books that chronicle contemporary life there based on the lives of its citizens is pretty fierce. Peter Hessler's River Town and Evan Osnos's recent Age of Ambition are both excellent. M. Meyer's Last Days of Old Beijing is a portrait of both his traditional hutong neighborhood and a close examination of China's capital city, including its recent exponential growth. Schmitz's account suffers to some degree simply because it treads some
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The author documents the lives of the shopkeepers living on this street, The Street of Eternal Happiness in Shanghai.
Really, though, this book is about Chinas big transition from country to city living. Its told through the stories of five or six shopkeepers on the street - the husband who works hard at a food stall while his wife constantly falls for get-rich-quick schemes, the young man who starts a Western-style sandwich shop and eventually decides to become a monk, and the middle-aged woman ...more
Really, though, this book is about Chinas big transition from country to city living. Its told through the stories of five or six shopkeepers on the street - the husband who works hard at a food stall while his wife constantly falls for get-rich-quick schemes, the young man who starts a Western-style sandwich shop and eventually decides to become a monk, and the middle-aged woman ...more
Rob Schmitz has made the people of one street in Shanghai come alive to the extent that finishing the book was like saying goodbye to old friends. CK, the young man with dreams of making it with a sandwich shop, surprisingly finds purpose in religion; Auntie Fu's dreams of wealth make her easy prey for conmen; and Zhao has "eaten bitter" for years in order to fulfill her dreams for her sons. The author's fluency in reading and writing Chinese come in handy when a box of letters found in an
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Since becoming an ESL teacher with VIPKid, I have been curious to learn more about Chinese culture. This book was a thoughtful read as I felt like I knew the people in the book and could picture their lives. I read the book quickly which is notable since I am a slowwww reader. I love the concept of the book and I learned a few things that I can actually use in the classroom. Even if you're not into Chinese culture, this is a wonderful book that brings you up close to a place you might never
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Rob Schmitz is an American journalist who lives in China and writes about the Chinese economy. In this book, he writes about the Chinese citizens who live near him on the "street of eternal happiness" in Shanghai. Through their lives, the changing Chinese culture is illuminated, with capitalism and communism, Christianity and Buddhism, rural and urban, tradition and modernity competing with each other.
Some of the characters Schmitz meets are very interesting... especially Auntie Fu, whose ...more
Some of the characters Schmitz meets are very interesting... especially Auntie Fu, whose ...more
"Fighting China's system almost never produced good results. It was like trying to swim against a powerful rip current: You would likely drown. My neighbours along the street who successfully navigated this systempeople like CK and Zhaorefused to allow it to drag them to unknown depths. Instead, they swam with careful strokes at an angle that followed the current but took them to the edge of it, carving their own way while ceding control to its raw power."
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Well written book with great insight into the Chinese mentality.
In many ways I feel like I am the perfect reader for this book. I have wondered in many of the places he is describing during the time he was there: I was working at the EXPO in 2010, travelled in Dali and Putuoshan and to top it all off, wrote my BA thesis on the shikumen in Shanghai. Not to mention the countless walks along the streets in French Concession..
In many ways I feel like I am the perfect reader for this book. I have wondered in many of the places he is describing during the time he was there: I was working at the EXPO in 2010, travelled in Dali and Putuoshan and to top it all off, wrote my BA thesis on the shikumen in Shanghai. Not to mention the countless walks along the streets in French Concession..
If Schmitz's book confirms anything for me, it's that China--though always changing--never really changes. Schmitz lives and works in Shanghai, a city I still think of as "mine," though I've not lived there in over a dozen years. Reading this was like falling through the pages and landing directly on the streets. I could see the sights, smell the smells, and hear the voices. This no doubt added immensely to my enjoyment (and, honestly, my frustration--China being what it is.)
Peter Hessler writes poetic prose, his stories a bit quaint focusing on times long gone. Leslie Changs writing is practical, focusing on a pragmatic generation. With Rob Schmitz you get to see modern China with its many confusions and conflicts.
Happiness is an ephemeral business on the Street of Eternal Happiness. Yet the characters pursue it with vigour and stubbornness. Through it all we hopefully appreciate a bit more the power of dreams and belief.
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Happiness is an ephemeral business on the Street of Eternal Happiness. Yet the characters pursue it with vigour and stubbornness. Through it all we hopefully appreciate a bit more the power of dreams and belief.
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I picked this up from a book recommendation list and after starting it I realized... I had just finished his wife's book! Very interesting to see how they each decided to write about their time in Shanghai! Street of Eternal Happiness was a great way to see snapshots of China's history. In my visit to Shanghai I actually heard many stories that echoed those who Rob met in his time, so I found it a great access point to some aspects of China's history.
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This is a good book for foreigners who have very little knowledge of Chinese society and history. I like how the author does his research and ruthlessly exposes the wrongdoings of the Chinese government. However, after a while, I got quite sick of the author's condescending tone. He seems to be emphasizing too much on how the characters' actions contradicts with their speech and makes them look silly.
Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how 'ordinary' Chinese see their world and why. These are more than anecdotes about the lives of his neighbours; Schmitz's stories delve into personal histories that uncover the paths that led each to the Street of Eternal Happiness. They are the stories of individuals that serve as metonyms for the lives of the most recent generations of Chinese. Intelligent, insightful, compassionate. Highly recommended.
Street of Eternal Happiness is quite good, certainly one of the better China books I have read. The stories that Schmitz tells are compelling. What I think makes the book so powerful is how he is able to interconnect the lives of those he comes across (both past and present) on his Shanghai street with the broader economic and political changes within Chinese society over time.
Schmitz is the China correspondent for American Public Media's show "Marketplace" which airs on NPR. He and his family live in Shanghai, and this book is about some of the people living on his street. It's a great reminder of the similarities of humanity and also of the way our culture influences our perspective. Schmitz is kind and gentle yet perceptive in his accounts. Great book!
Wonderful vignettes of ordinary people just struggling to get by, make sense, and create a better life for themselves inside the chaos, opportunity, and heartbreak, that is contemporary China. All with that brand of Chinese pragmatism that accepts just getting it done, "eating bitter".
A remarkably well-told firsthand account of daily life in Shanghai from the perspective of a Chinese-learned American outsider. Worth a read for anyone who is interested in and is not familiar with what Chinese daily life looks like in the big city, from all walks of life.
Schmitz gives his readers an up close look at what life is really like for everyday people living on the Street of Eternal Happiness in Shanghai, China. Readers will get to know the people who work, play, and live in the neighborhood, each person striving for a better future.
Through big city dreams along a shanghai road the author revealed the history of China in an approachable style that was a pleasure to read. Through the people he met on this 2 mile stretch he shared stories from different walks of life that revealed China's history. Thank you, Rob Schmitz.
Can I give it six stars?. I was totally engrossed in the authors tales of the families he came to know and the stories of their lives throughout one of chinas most difficult periods and the countries evolving growth and change. This became one of those books I would like to go on and on.
I really enjoyed this book - a fascinating glimpse into the lives and backgrounds of some of the residents of the street. I learned a lot about Chinese culture, history since Mao's era, and what daily life is like in modern Shanghai. The book was very well written and never boring.
I felt like I was walking, beneath the plane trees. An absorbing book, full of memorable characters. I kept darting off from reading, to google further on parts I read. I left the book, wanting to stay. An intricate portrait, very interesting.
A highly readable account of the daily lives of some of the people who live on the same street in Shanghai. Through their experiences and memories, the reader gains an insight into the history and culture of China.
Very interesting look into the lives of a diverse cast of characters in modern day Shanghai. Personalizes and contextualizes some of the broader issues and trends that have impacted China in recent years.
Very good! At times humorous, at times heart-breaking, I really cared about and felt that I knew these people (maybe it helps that I spent 3 summers in China, so I could connect with them). A compelling read about a complicated country.
I'm not sure I could've finished this book if I hadn't been listening to it on audiobook. It was enlightening about China. I loved hearing the Chinese phrases as pronounced by the reader on the audio version.
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ROB SCHMITZ is NPR's International Correspondent based in Shanghai, where he covers the human stories of China's economic rise and increasing global influence. He has reported on a range of topics including trade, politics, the environment, education, and labor. His reporting on China's impact beyond its borders has taken him to countries such as Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Vietnam, Thailand, Australia,
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“plane trees”
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“the center point of Shanghai. My home is at the western”
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