The image of China as the beast of the Far East is well entrenched. But that doesn't necessarily mean the reality matches the popular perception. So, is China really the economic steamroller we think it is? Even more importantly, could we really live without Chinese goods? That is the question asked by Sara Bongiorni in her book, A Year Without 'Made in China.

On January 1, 2005, Sara Bongiorni's family embarked on a yearlong boycott of Chinese products. They wanted to see for themselves what it would take, in will power and creativity, to live without the world's fastest growing economy--and whether it could be done at all.

A Year Without "Made in China" chronicles this fascinating and frustrating journey, and provides you with a thought-provoking and thoroughly entertaining account of life in a vast and slippery global economy of infinite complexity. Drawing on her years as an award-winning journalist, Bongiorni fills this book with engaging stories and anecdotes of her family's attempt to outrun China's reach, and does a remarkable job of taking a decidedly big-picture issue--China's emerging status in the global economy--and breaking it down to a personal level.

Bongiorni's real-world adventure is filled with small human dramas. You'll learn how her boycott of China meant scrambling to keep her rebellious husband in line and disappointing her young son in stand-offs over Chinese-made toys. You'll also discover how shopping trips for mundane items like birthday candles as well as high-end designer clothing became grinding ordeals,while broken appliances brought on mini crises.

A Year Without "Made in China" reveals how this manufacturing colossus is quietly changing our lives,but it also addresses the realities of globalization and, more importantly, where the world economy is heading. With low wages and government subsidies fueling China's rapid production of consumer goods,countries and companies around the world will soon face the inconvenient fact that they must rely on this economic giant in order to survive--and this book offers a rare glimpse of what that could be like.

See for yourself how the most populous nation on Earth influences almost every aspect of our daily lives and why this situation is both limiting and expanding our options when it comes to the products a majority of us take for granted.

Foreword

Acknowledgments

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER ONE

Farewell, My Concubine

CHAPTER TWO

Red Shoes

CHAPTER THREE

Rise and China

CHAPTER FOUR

Manufacturing Dissent

CHAPTER FIVE

A Modest Proposal

CHAPTER SIX

Mothers of Invention

CHAPTER SEVEN

Summer of Discontent

CHAPTER EIGHT

Red Tide

CHAPTER NINE

China Dreams

CHAPTER TEN

Meltdown

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The China Season

CHAPTER TWELVE

Road's End

Epilogue

About the Author

Index