While his prose style can be better, Gilley has written a very enjoyable book that reads more like a novel and less like social or economic history. Before 1978, Daqiu was the poorest villages in its province. In fact, Gilley includes a common joke from the period:
Question: What's the best way to kill someone in Daqiu without getting caught?
Answer: Bash in his head with a brick. No Judge will ever believe that a person from Daqiu has enough money to own a brick. You are sure to be set free.
But in 10 years, Daqiu was producing 3 percent of China's steel. The villagers owned imported cars, had their own television cable system, and the village treasury held hundreds of millions of dollars.
Gilley doesn't just tell a story of economic growth, but also narrates many of the developments that occurred in the village alongside. The local village leader, Yu Zuomin, a visionary, who leads Daqiu through this economic miracle becomes a dictator and tries to take on the Chinese government. There is everything in this story from greed, corruption, and bribery to murders and cover-ups.