A Tale of Two Chinas is essential reading for understanding mainland China in the early-mid twenty-first century. Based on Hugh Battye’s own compelling fifteen-year China journey, the book takes the reader on a topical odyssey, covering many of the major economic, political and cultural themes of the later Reform years, as well as of President Xi Jinping’s current New Era. Through his vividly contrasting, yet complementary, descriptions of the “two Chinas” he experienced – the sophisticated society of the Chinese urban mainstream on the one hand and the vibrant minority cultures of the rural northwest on the other – the author provides a unique, holistic and accessible account of a country that, despite its superpower status, still remains largely opaque to many in the international community.