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
2031 Cosmos Alexander von Humboldt 1845 German German
2205 The Gate of Heavenly Peace Jonathan Spence 1981 American English
2893 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
4622 The Party Richard McGregor 2010 Unknown English
4763 400 Million Customers Carl Crow 1937 American English
4849 Peking Story David Kidd 1960 American English
5150 Midnight In Peking Paul French 2012 British English
5441 1587, A Year Of No Significance Ray Huang 1981 Chinese English
5456 Forgotten Ally Rana Mitter 2013 British English
5522 Mao's China And After Maurice Meisner 1977 American English
5665 Baiyun Oder Die Freundschaftsgesellschaft Adolf Muschg 1980 Swiss German
5935 Der Bedrohte Friede Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker 1982 German German
5965 Imperial China, 900–1800 F. W. Mote 1999 Chinese English
5978 Soulstealers Philip A. Kuhn 1990 American English
6225 The Chinese Enlightenment Vera Schwarcz 1986 Unknown English
6292 Oracle Bones Peter Hessler 2006 American English
6337 China Pop Jianying Zha 1995 Unknown English
6428 Riding The Iron Rooster Paul Theroux 1988 American English
6463 Red Azalea Anchee Min 1993 Chinese English
6575 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
7164 Beijing Comrades Bei Tong 1998 Chinese English
7595 Wealth And Power Orville Schell, John Delury 2013 Chinese English
7933 Mr. China Tim Clissold 2004 British English
8093 Nixon And Mao Margaret MacMillan 2005 Canadian English
8157 Out Of Mao’s Shadow Philip P. Pan 2008 Unknown English
8209 China Shakes The World James Kynge 2006 British English
8220 Tombstone Yang Jisheng 2008 Chinese Chinese
8227 The Rose Of Time Bei Dao 2005 Chinese Chinese
8230 China Susan Shirk 2007 Unknown English
8244 The Man Awakened From Dreams Henrietta Harrison 2005 Unknown English
8285 The Last Days Of Old Beijing Michael Meyer 2008 Unknown English
8416 Mao’s Last Revolution Roderick MacFarquhar, Michael Schoenhals 2007 Unknown English
8418 The Man Who Loved China Simon Winchester 2008 British English
8457 The Age Of Openness Frank Dikötter 2008 Unknown English
8484 Public Passions Eugenia Lean 2007 Unknown English
8533 Prisoner Of The State Zhao Ziyang 2009 Chinese Chinese
8740 The Beijing Of Possibilities Jonathan Tel 2009 Unknown English
8748 Running Away Jean-Philippe Toussaint 2005 French French
8815 China In Ten Words Yu Hua 2011 Chinese Chinese
8953 The Vagrants Yiyun Li 2009 American English
9058 Décadence Mandchoue Sir Edmund Trelawny Backhouse 2011 Unknown English
9522 In Line Behind A Billion People Damien Ma, William Adams 2013 Unknown English
9531 The Emperor Far Away David Eimer 2014 Unknown English
9652 The People's Republic Of Amnesia Louisa Lim 2014 Unknown English
9684 Leftover Women Leta Hong Fincher 2014 Unknown English
9695 The Beautiful Country And The Middle Kingdom John Pomfret 2016 American English
9936 One Child Mei Fong 2016 Unknown English
9950 The Souls Of China Ian Johnson 2017 American English
9976 The Most Wanted Man In China Fang Lizhi 2016 Unknown English
10017 Nine Continents Xiaolu Guo 2017 Chinese English
10101 Unlikely Partners Julian Gewirtz 2017 Unknown English
10124 The Winds Of Change Eugene Linden 2006 Unknown English
10214 Her Majesty's Secret Service Christopher Andrew 1985 Unknown English
10496 The Second Oldest Profession Phillip Knightley 1986 British English
10529 Ai Superpowers Kai-Fu Lee 2018 Chinese English
10561 China’s Great Wall Of Debt Dinny McMahon 2018 Unknown English
10562 The Third Revolution Elizabeth C. Economy 2018 Unknown English
10603 China's New Red Guards Jude Blanchette 2019 Unknown English
10839 Who Controls The Internet? Tim Wu, Jack Goldsmith 2006 American English
11433 A History Of Bombing Sven Lindqvist 1999 Swedish Swedish
11542 Half The Sky Nicholas Kristof 2009 American English
11629 Death By Video Game Simon Parkin 2015 British English
11634 The Means Of Reproduction Michelle Goldberg 2009 American English
11851 Chosen Peoples Anthony D. Smith 2003 British English
11894 Kinder Than Solitude Yiyun Li 2014 American English
12018 Memories Of Peking Lin Hai-yin 1960 Chinese Chinese
12122 The Palestine Laboratory Antony Loewenstein 2023 Australian English
12628 Wandering Lu Xun 1926 Chinese Chinese
12682 Children Of The Rich Lu Ling 1940 Chinese Unknown
12691 Wanting Claire Jia Unknown English
12946 Four Generations Under One Roof Lao She 1944 Chinese Chinese
13305 Moment In Peking Lin Yutang 1939 Chinese English
13315 Records Of Orchard City Shi Tuo 1946 Chinese Chinese
13359 All The Emperor’s Horses David Kidd 1960 American English
13532 Gardner's Art Through The Ages Helen Gardner 1926 American English
13564 The Young Newcomer In The Organizational Department Wang Meng 1980 Chinese Chinese
13735 Christianity In The Twentieth Century Brian Stanley 2018 British English
13742 Dictionary Of Subjects And Symbols In Art James Hall 1974 British English
13932 The Deer And The Cauldron Jin Yong 1969 Chinese Chinese
14665 Yongzheng Emperor Eryue He 1990 Chinese Chinese
14983 Red Memory Tania Branigan 2023 Chinese English
14983 Mao's Great Famine Frank Dikötter 2010 Chinese English
17114 Hermit Of Peking Hugh Trevor-Roper 1976 British English
17114 Please Don’t Call Me Human Wang Shuo 1991 Chinese Chinese
17114 Ocean Of Words Ha Jin 1996 American English
17114 Once Upon A Time In The East Xiaolu Guo 2017 British English
17114 Beijing Coma Ma Jian 2008 Chinese Chinese
17114 Leave Me Alone Murong Xuecun 2002 Chinese Chinese
17114 The Fat Years Chan Koonchung 2009 Chinese Chinese
17114 The Bourne Supremacy Robert Ludlum 1986 American English
17114 Temptations Of The West Pankaj Mishra 2006 Indian English
17114 Art History Marilyn Stokstad 1995 American English
17114 The Third Reich Michael Burleigh 2000 British English
17114 The Climate Book Greta Thunberg 2022 Swedish English
17114 Margaret Thatcher Charles Moore 2013 British English
17114 From The Ruins Of Empire Pankaj Mishra 2012 Indian English
17114 The Endtimes Of Human Rights Stephen Hopgood 2013 British English
17114 The Wandering Earth Cixin Liu 2013 Chinese Chinese
17114 Diplomacy Henry A. Kissinger 1994 American English
17114 The Lexus And The Olive Tree Thomas L. Friedman 1999 American English
17114 The Revolt Of The Public And The Crisis Of Authority In The New Millennium Martin Gurri 2014 Unknown English
17114 There And Back: Diaries 1999 2009 Michael Palin 2024 British English
17114 The 33 Strategies Of War New Edition By Robert Greene Paperback Robert Greene 2006 American English
17114 The Sports Gene David Epstein 2013 American English
16763 Imperial Woman Pearl S. Buck 1956 American English
17114 Sounds Like Titanic Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman 2019 American English
17114 The Chinese Machiavelli Dennis Bloodworth 1976 Chinese English
17114 Mountain Of Fame John E. Wills Jr. 1992 Chinese English
17114 Readings In Classical Chinese Philosophy Philip J. Ivanhoe, Bryan W. Van Norden 2001 Chinese English
17114 Finding Them Gone Red Pine 2015 Chinese English