The Greatest Books of All Time Set in Beijing

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 759 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
817 Rickshaw Boy Lao She 1936 Chinese Chinese
1051 The Phenomenon Of Man Pierre Teilhard de Chardin 1955 French French
2032 Cosmos Alexander von Humboldt 1845 German German
2206 The Gate of Heavenly Peace Jonathan Spence 1981 American English
2896 Teahouse Lao She 1957 Chinese Chinese
3543 The Good Women Of China Xinran 2002 Chinese Chinese
3637 Gods, Graves, And Scholars C. W. Ceram 1949 German German
4263 The Importance Of Living Lin Yutang 1937 Chinese English
4623 The Party Richard McGregor 2010 Unknown English
4764 400 Million Customers Carl Crow 1937 American English
4850 Peking Story David Kidd 1960 American English
5153 Midnight In Peking Paul French 2012 British English
5444 1587, A Year Of No Significance Ray Huang 1981 Chinese English
5459 Forgotten Ally Rana Mitter 2013 British English
5524 Mao's China And After Maurice Meisner 1977 American English
5668 Baiyun Oder Die Freundschaftsgesellschaft Adolf Muschg 1980 Swiss German
5939 Der Bedrohte Friede Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker 1982 German German
5969 Imperial China, 900–1800 F. W. Mote 1999 Chinese English
5982 Soulstealers Philip A. Kuhn 1990 American English
6229 The Chinese Enlightenment Vera Schwarcz 1986 Unknown English
6295 Oracle Bones Peter Hessler 2006 American English
6340 China Pop Jianying Zha 1995 Unknown English
6431 Riding The Iron Rooster Paul Theroux 1988 American English
6465 Red Azalea Anchee Min 1993 Chinese English
6577 Crashed Adam Tooze 2018 British English
6809 Eastbound Maylis de Kerangal 2012 French French
6866 In The Red Geremie R. Barmé 1999 Unknown English
6873 Povedal Mi Veštec Tiziano Terzani 2002 Italian Italian
6888 The Boxer Rebellion Diana Preston 1999 Unknown English
6989 Red China Blues Jan Wong 1996 Canadian English
7165 Beijing Comrades Bei Tong 1998 Chinese English
7596 Wealth And Power Orville Schell, John Delury 2013 Chinese English
7934 Mr. China Tim Clissold 2004 British English
8094 Nixon And Mao Margaret MacMillan 2005 Canadian English
8159 Out Of Mao’s Shadow Philip P. Pan 2008 Unknown English
8211 China Shakes The World James Kynge 2006 British English
8222 Tombstone Yang Jisheng 2008 Chinese Chinese
8229 The Rose Of Time Bei Dao 2005 Chinese Chinese
8232 China Susan Shirk 2007 Unknown English
8246 The Man Awakened From Dreams Henrietta Harrison 2005 Unknown English
8287 The Last Days Of Old Beijing Michael Meyer 2008 Unknown English
8420 Mao’s Last Revolution Roderick MacFarquhar, Michael Schoenhals 2007 Unknown English
8422 The Man Who Loved China Simon Winchester 2008 British English
8462 The Age Of Openness Frank Dikötter 2008 Unknown English
8489 Public Passions Eugenia Lean 2007 Unknown English
8537 Prisoner Of The State Zhao Ziyang 2009 Chinese Chinese
8745 The Beijing Of Possibilities Jonathan Tel 2009 Unknown English
8753 Running Away Jean-Philippe Toussaint 2005 French French
8820 China In Ten Words Yu Hua 2011 Chinese Chinese
8957 The Vagrants Yiyun Li 2009 American English
9063 Décadence Mandchoue Sir Edmund Trelawny Backhouse 2011 Unknown English
9527 In Line Behind A Billion People Damien Ma, William Adams 2013 Unknown English
9536 The Emperor Far Away David Eimer 2014 Unknown English
9655 The People's Republic Of Amnesia Louisa Lim 2014 Unknown English
9687 Leftover Women Leta Hong Fincher 2014 Unknown English
9698 The Beautiful Country And The Middle Kingdom John Pomfret 2016 American English
9940 One Child Mei Fong 2016 Unknown English
9954 The Souls Of China Ian Johnson 2017 American English
9980 The Most Wanted Man In China Fang Lizhi 2016 Unknown English
10021 Nine Continents Xiaolu Guo 2017 Chinese English
10106 Unlikely Partners Julian Gewirtz 2017 Unknown English
10128 The Winds Of Change Eugene Linden 2006 Unknown English
10220 Her Majesty's Secret Service Christopher Andrew 1985 Unknown English
10501 The Second Oldest Profession Phillip Knightley 1986 British English
10535 Ai Superpowers Kai-Fu Lee 2018 Chinese English
10567 China’s Great Wall Of Debt Dinny McMahon 2018 Unknown English
10568 The Third Revolution Elizabeth C. Economy 2018 Unknown English
10609 China's New Red Guards Jude Blanchette 2019 Unknown English
10845 Who Controls The Internet? Tim Wu, Jack Goldsmith 2006 American English
11438 A History Of Bombing Sven Lindqvist 1999 Swedish Swedish
11544 Half The Sky Nicholas Kristof 2009 American English
11631 Death By Video Game Simon Parkin 2015 British English
11636 The Means Of Reproduction Michelle Goldberg 2009 American English
11852 Chosen Peoples Anthony D. Smith 2003 British English
11895 Kinder Than Solitude Yiyun Li 2014 American English
12019 Memories Of Peking Lin Hai-yin 1960 Chinese Chinese
12123 The Palestine Laboratory Antony Loewenstein 2023 Australian English
12630 Wandering Lu Xun 1926 Chinese Chinese
12684 Children Of The Rich Lu Ling 1940 Chinese Unknown
12693 Wanting Claire Jia Unknown English
12949 Four Generations Under One Roof Lao She 1944 Chinese Chinese
13308 Moment In Peking Lin Yutang 1939 Chinese English
13318 Records Of Orchard City Shi Tuo 1946 Chinese Chinese
13362 All The Emperor’s Horses David Kidd 1960 American English
13533 Gardner's Art Through The Ages Helen Gardner 1926 American English
13565 The Young Newcomer In The Organizational Department Wang Meng 1980 Chinese Chinese
13736 Christianity In The Twentieth Century Brian Stanley 2018 British English
13743 Dictionary Of Subjects And Symbols In Art James Hall 1974 British English
13932 The Deer And The Cauldron Jin Yong 1969 Chinese Chinese
14666 Yongzheng Emperor Eryue He 1990 Chinese Chinese
14985 Red Memory Tania Branigan 2023 Chinese English
14985 Mao's Great Famine Frank Dikötter 2010 Chinese English
17160 Hermit Of Peking Hugh Trevor-Roper 1976 British English
17160 Please Don’t Call Me Human Wang Shuo 1991 Chinese Chinese
17160 Ocean Of Words Ha Jin 1996 American English
17160 Once Upon A Time In The East Xiaolu Guo 2017 British English
17160 Beijing Coma Ma Jian 2008 Chinese Chinese
17160 Leave Me Alone Murong Xuecun 2002 Chinese Chinese
17160 The Fat Years Chan Koonchung 2009 Chinese Chinese
17160 The Bourne Supremacy Robert Ludlum 1986 American English
17160 Temptations Of The West Pankaj Mishra 2006 Indian English
17160 Art History Marilyn Stokstad 1995 American English
17160 The Third Reich Michael Burleigh 2000 British English
17160 The Climate Book Greta Thunberg 2022 Swedish English
17160 Margaret Thatcher Charles Moore 2013 British English
17160 From The Ruins Of Empire Pankaj Mishra 2012 Indian English
17160 The Endtimes Of Human Rights Stephen Hopgood 2013 British English
17160 The Wandering Earth Cixin Liu 2013 Chinese Chinese
17160 Diplomacy Henry A. Kissinger 1994 American English
17160 The Lexus And The Olive Tree Thomas L. Friedman 1999 American English
17160 The Revolt Of The Public And The Crisis Of Authority In The New Millennium Martin Gurri 2014 Unknown English
17160 There And Back: Diaries 1999 2009 Michael Palin 2024 British English
17160 The 33 Strategies Of War New Edition By Robert Greene Paperback Robert Greene 2006 American English
17160 The Sports Gene David Epstein 2013 American English
16805 Imperial Woman Pearl S. Buck 1956 American English
17160 Sounds Like Titanic Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman 2019 American English
17160 The Chinese Machiavelli Dennis Bloodworth 1976 Chinese English
17160 Mountain Of Fame John E. Wills Jr. 1992 Chinese English
17160 Readings In Classical Chinese Philosophy Philip J. Ivanhoe, Bryan W. Van Norden 2001 Chinese English
17160 Finding Them Gone Red Pine 2015 Chinese English