Alec Ash

Wish Lanterns is Alec Ash's first book, a work of literary nonficton published in 2016. It follows the lives of six young Chinese, born after 1985, the 'post-Tiananmen generation' of youth destined to transform both their nation and the world. These millennials, offspring of the one-child policy, face fierce competition to succeed. Their stories are also like those of young people all over the world: moving out of home, starting a career, falling in love. There is Dahai, a military child and netizen; 'Fred', a daughter of the Party; Lucifer, an aspiring superstar; Snail, a country migrant addicted to online games; Xiaoxiao, a hipster from the freezing north; and Mia, a rebel from Xinjiang in the far west. Through these narrative portraits, Wish Lanterns shows with empathy and insight the challenges and dreams that will define China's global impact.

BUY THE BOOK

• UK edition (Amazon) or from publisher (Picador, 2016)

• US edition (Amazon) or from publisher (Arcade, 2017)

• US paperback (retitled China's New Youth, 2020)

• Audiobook (Amazon/Blackstone Audio)

SELECTED PRAISE

"Wish Lanterns announces the arrival of a talented young observer of today’s China. Alec Ash documents the lives of Chinese millennials with detail, insight, and sympathy, and his book is an invaluable resource for anybody hoping to understand the country’s future possibilities"

– Peter Hessler, author of River Town

"Alec Ash has given something miraculous: a living, breathing portrait of China’s future—and, thus, a portrait of the world’s future. Deeply reported, and alive with the full complications of truth, Ash’s chronicle of young lives in China will endure"

– Evan Osnos, author of Age of Ambition

"Alec Ash's book has opened a window in the wall between China and the west for us to see the hopes and fears of these young Chinese who are struggling to build their lives in a world that their parents could never dream of"

– Xinran, author of The Good Women of China

"A beautiful and thoughtful book about the life of young people in China. Alec Ash has succeeded in giving us an intimate and complex portrait of the one child generation. I enthusiastically recommend you to read it"

– Xiaolu Guo, author of I Am China

REVIEWS

Wall Street Journal – Howard French

Washington Post – John Pomfret

Financial Times – Jonathan Fenby

Prospect – Rana Mitter

Standpoint – Graham Hutchings

South China Morning Post