Little Rice

Can the world’s biggest economy actually innovate? Clay Shirky explores China at a crossroads.

Smartphones have to be made someplace, and that place is China. In just five years, a company named Xiaomi (which means “little rice” in Mandarin) has grown into the most valuable startup ever, becoming the third largest vendor of smartphones, behind only Samsung and Apple. China is now both the world’s largest producer and consumer of a little device that brings the entire globe to its user’s fingertips. How has this changed the Chinese people? How did Xiaomi conquer the world’s biggest market? Can the rise of Xiaomi help realize the Chinese Dream, China’s bid to link personal success with national greatness?

Clay Shirky, one of the most influential and original thinkers on the internet’s effects on society, spends a year in Shanghai chronicling China’s attempt to become a tech originator—and what it means for the future course of globalization.

This is the second title from Columbia Global Reports, a new imprint out of Columbia University the publishes novella length books about a range of global issues. Our books offer new ways to look at and understand the world that can be read in a few hours. Most readers are curious and busy. Our books are for them.

Clay Shirky is associate professor at NYU Shanghai. He is the author of Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age (2010) and Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations (2008). His writings appear frequently in The New York Times, Wired, The Wall Street Journal, and Harvard Business Review, and his TED Talks have been viewed by millions.