Drawing on historical research, case studies, and interviews with officials, scholars, and activists in China, Economy traces the economic and political roots of China’s environmental challenge and the evolution of the leadership's response. She argues that China’s current approach to environmental protection mirrors the one embraced for economic development: devolving authority to local officials, opening the door to private actors, and inviting participation from the international community, while retaining only weak central control. The result has been a patchwork of environmental protection in which a few wealthy regions with strong leaders and international ties improve their local environments, while most of the country continues to deteriorate, sometimes suffering irrevocable damage. Economy compares China’s response with the experience of other societies and sketches out several possible futures for the country.

From the Inside Flap
"Elizabeth C. Economy’s book hits my ‘Top Ten’ list from the day it is published. It is a clear and compelling reminder that no engagement with China--commercial, diplomatic, cultural, intellectual--can afford to ignore China’s vast environmental dilemmas and the deep social, economic, and political structural problems that make environmental salvation an uncertain enterprise at best. The case for international engagement with china emerges even more strongly from this book; the case for ‘irrational exuberance’ is dashed to smithereens."--Robert A. Kapp, President, US-China business Council

"Rivers run black, deserts advance from the north, and smoky haze covers the country. Elizabeth C. Economy both provides a gripping account of a severely degraded environment and thoughtfully analyzes what could be China's most important challenge in the twenty-first century."—Gordon G. Chang, author of The Coming Collapse of china

"Elizabeth C. Economy captures extraordinarily well the complex historical, systemic, political, economic, and international forces that are shaping China’s environmental outcomes. No other volume on this enormously important issue is as comprehensive, balanced, and incisive. True to her deep understanding of the crosscurrents of China's present environmental efforts, Economy is agnostic about which of three startlingly different futures will come to pass. Her book enables us to understand both the potential for each of these futures and the means to lessen the chances of environmental meltdown on the Chinese mainland."—Kenneth Lieberthal, Professor of Political Science and Professor of International business at the University of Michigan

• Information on the most interesting Native American cliff dwellings and pueblos.
• Outspoken opinions on what's worth your time and what's not.
• Exact prices, so you can plan the perfect trip whatever your budget.
• Off-the-beaten-path experiences and undiscovered gems, plus new takes on top attractions.

• Outspoken opinions on what's worth your time and what's not.
• Exact prices, so you can plan the perfect trip no matter what your budget.
• Off-the-beaten-path experiences and undiscovered gems, plus new takes on top attractions.
• The best hotels and restaurants in every price range, with candid Reviews.
• The expert guidance you need to take charge and travel with confidence.

• Book flights, hotels, and rental cars.
• Get free updates on attractions and prices.

The practice of chi kung is founded on the five energies system of Chinese philosophy. Through Master Chuen’s careful direction, you will master key positions and movements that will boost your energy, decrease stress, stave off illness, and enhance your overall fitness.

Chi Kung is both an expertly crafted instructional guide and a potentially life-enriching experience. Follow the master’s teaching and insights to perform each purposeful technique. Feel your muscles grow firmer while your mind becomes more aware, yet at ease. In opening this book, you open yourself to the tremendous power of chi.

About The Author
Master Lam Kam Chuen has trained under many of the great masters in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China. A master of tai chi, chi kung, and feng shui, he is considered one of the leading teachers of these arts outside of China. Chuen is the author of many successful books on the Chinese healing arts, including Step-by-Step Tai Chi and Chi Kung: The Way of Healing—both of which have sold more than 50,000 copies. Chuen lives in London, England.

The voices in Passage are fresh, direct, and informed. Read original research by Kay Johnson and her Chinese colleagues--the world's top authorities on adoption and abandonment in China. Get advice from renowned physicians Dana Johnson, Jerri Ann Jenista, and others who specialize in international adoption. Enjoy personal accounts from adoptive parents about the joys of adopting and the challenges and triumphs of parenthood.

The writers--adoptive parents and adoption and medical professionals from across the United States, Canada and Britain--discuss the process up close and personally, from the emotionally charged period of waiting to adopt, through the adoption journey, settling in as a new or enlarged family, specific issues of health and development in young children adopted from China, the special rewards and challenges of adopting children over the age of one and of single parenting, perspectives on adoption from china from inside and outside the adoption community, the loaded issues of culture, language, identity, and race, accounts of going back to china after adopting, and, finally, a look down the road of adoptive family life at issues that don't come up in families formed the "usual" way.

A Passage to the Heart: Writings from Families with children from china is the collaborative effort of more than two dozen chapters of FCC and similar adoptive-family support groups in three countries. Each purchase benefits both the Amity Foundation (fccny.org/oaa.asp) and the Foundation for Chinese Orphanages (thefco.org), which have been working to improve conditions in Chinese orphanages since the mid 1990s.

About The Author
Amy Klatzkin, editor of the forthcoming Adoptive Families Guide to Adoption, 2000-2001, lived and worked in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, from 1984-86 and has been editing books about china for more than 20 years. She is a board member of San Francisco Bay Area Families with children from china and the Chinese Culture Foundation of San Francisco and is on the editorial advisory board of Adoptive Families magazine.

Packed with recommendations of the world's best places to visit, on and off the beaten path, 1,000 PLACES TO SEE BEFORE YOU DIE is a joyous, passionate gift for travelers, an around-the-world, continent-by-continent listing of beaches, museums, monuments, islands, inns, restaurants, mountains, and more. There's Botswana's Okavango Delta, the covered souks of Aleppo, the Tuscan hills surrounding San Gimignano, Canyon de Chelly, the Hassler hotel in Rome, Ipanema Beach, the backwaters of Kerala, Oaxaca's Saturday market, the Buddhas of Borobudur, Ballybunion golf club-all the places guaranteed to give you the shivers.

The prose is gorgeous, seizing on exactly what makes each entry worthy of inclusion. And, following the romance, the nuts and bolts: addresses, phone and fax numbers, web sites, costs, and best times to visit.