New book - China: The Basics by Anna Lora-Wainwright

Professor Anna Lora-Wainwright, Professor of the Human Geography of China has published a new book: China: The Basics. Routledge (2026)

China: The Basics is written for a general audience interested in contemporary China as well as for students seeking a deeper understanding of the country. The book draws inspiration from Anna’s specialist teaching on China at the University of Oxford since 2020 and explores a wide range of topics, including China’s global influence; economic transformation and emerging forms of precarity; urbanisation and the emergence of new ruralities; changes and continuities in gender relations and sexuality; diversity and repression within civil society; environmental governance; and major health crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic, through which to examine the evolving role of the state in welfare provision.

A central aim of the book is to demonstrate the value of fine-grained ethnographic research for understanding the complexities of everyday life in contemporary China. To this end, it draws on Anna’s past and ongoing research, a rich body of published ethnographic scholarship, and the work of current and former students. While China is changing at extraordinary speed and specific ethnographic observations may quickly become dated, the book seeks to do more than provide empirical knowledge. It also encourages a critical and analytical approach to the study of China, inviting readers to reflect on how stereotypes shape understanding and to attend to the subtle forms of agency, experience, and social change that often escape broader narratives.