Route 312 is the Chinese Route 66. It flows three thousand miles from east to west, passing through the factory towns of the coastal areas, through the rural heart of China, then up into the Gobi Desert, where it merges with the Old Silk Road. The highway witnesses every part of the social and economic revolution that is turning China upside down. In this utterly surprising and deeply personal book, acclaimed National Public Radio reporter Rob Gifford, a fluent Mandarin speaker, takes the dramatic journey along Route 312 from its start in the boomtown of Shanghai to its end on the border with Kazakhstan. Gifford reveals the rich mosaic of modern Chinese life in all its contradictions, as he poses the crucial questions that all of us are asking about China: Will it really be the next global superpower? Is it as solid and as powerful as it looks from the outside? And who are the ordinary Chinese people, to whom the twenty-first century is supposed to belong? Gifford is not alone on his journey. The largest migration in human history is taking place along highways such as Route 312, as tens of millions of people leave their homes in search of work. He sees signs of the booming urban economy everywhere, but he also uncovers many of the country’s frailties, and some of the deep-seated problems that could derail China’s rise. The whole compelling adventure is told through the cast of colorful characters Gifford meets: garrulous talk-show hosts and ambitious yuppies, impoverished peasants and tragic prostitutes, cell-phone salesmen, AIDS patients, and Tibetan monks. He rides with members of a Shanghai jeep club, hitchhikes across the Gobi desert, and sings karaoke with migrant workers at truck stops along the way. As he recounts his travels along Route 312, Rob Gifford gives a face to what has historically, for Westerners, been a faceless country and breathes life into a nation that is so often reduced to economic statistics. Finally, he sounds a warning that all is not well in the Chinese heartlands, that serious problems lie ahead, and that the future of the West has become inextricably linked with the fate of 1.3 billion Chinese people. “Informative, delightful, and powerfully moving . . . Rob Gifford’s acute powers of observation, his sense of humor and adventure, and his determination to explore the wrenching dilemmas of China’s explosive development open readers’ eyes and reward their minds.” –Robert A. Kapp, president, U.S.-China Business Council, 1994-2004

中國將會變成什麼樣子？ 在312國道的旅途上，我試圖從卡車司機、農夫、 手機推銷員身上，尋找解答。 中國正在塑造自己的未來，不盡完美，也非常艱苦，但沿途滿是希望。 經過三十年的市場改革，今日中國已巍然矗立，展現全然不同的新風貌。不僅撼動原油及大宗物資市場，成為世界工廠，也即將超日趕美，躋身全球第二大經濟體。一般認為，中國遲早會是下一個全球超級強權。仔細觀察，仍有一些危機隱隱浮現，顯示中國未必如表象所見的穩固，例如城鄉貧富差距愈見嚴重、從搖籃到墳墓的社會安全網已經崩解、急速發展嚴重破壞了生態環境、貪腐貫穿整個社會、政治缺乏制衡力量。 本書作者齊福德跋涉三千多公里的312號國道之旅，就是一趟見證中國脆弱之旅。從沿途遇到的卡車司機、阻街妓女、雅痞與藝術家、農夫、手機推銷員的身上，齊福德看到了現代中國的複雜多樣，也試圖為中國的未來尋找解答。