China, Portrait of a Country. Edited by Liu Heung-shing.
There’s no denying that 2008 was the ‘Year of China’. Global attention was focused on the host of this summer’s Olympic Games, while media outlets worldwide (unimaginatively) heralded the Beijing-held event as the nation’s ‘coming out party’. With the unprecedented press attention and overwhelming public interest, it was only to be expected when a slew of China-related titles hit the shelves. There were business books, travel guides, historical epics, and innumerable personal reflections on what is termed the ‘My China’ experience – all of varying substance and style. Into this quagmire of quality arrived a Taschen tome immodestly titled: China, Portrait of a Country. The difference was; this was a work worthy of its name. Drawing on the works of 88 Chinese photographers, and edited by Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist and Hongkonger Liu Heung-shing, the volume takes readers on an awe-inspiring, humbling journey through the visual history of the People’s Republic of China, from 1949 to the present. As a record of a nation, it is without parallel; and as a memoriam to remember the year that was, you couldn’t really do any better. Published by Taschen, www.taschen.com.

Runner-up: Factory Girls (Leslie T. Chang)
Books about fast-changing China abound, but it's rare to find one combining closely-observed reporting with compelling personal narrative. Journalist Leslie Chang, formerly of the Wall Street Journal, spent three years in Dongguan documenting the lives of migrant factory workers and their constant search for better pay. Simultaneously, Chang traced her grandfather's journey to the US, and subsequent return to China. Whether accompanying her subjects to a dating agency or visiting a village to explore her family history, Chang's first-person, conversational writing style, unexpected dashes of humour, and vivid descriptions of all she experienced, make for a most appealing and freshly-told story. Published by Spiegel & Grau, www.randomhouse.com/spiegelandgrau.

Second runner-up: The City of Heavenly Tranquility (Jasper Becker)
Despite Hong Kong’s claim to be partial host of this year’s Olympics (a slight honour we shared with the cities of Qinhuangdao, Shanghai, Shenyang, Tianjin and Qingdao), the summer spotlight, quite rightly, shone most brightly on the capital. Out of myriad of Beijing-centric releases, long time resident Jasper Becker’s collection of short stories about the city and its people stood out for its honesty, wit, and intelligent writing. Highly recommended, and perhaps a timely reminder we’re long overdue a similar English-language treatment of the Fragrant Harbour. Published by Oxford University Press, USA, www.oup.com/us.

Honourable mentions:
Brothers (Yu Hua)
A bitterly humorous tale of sibling rivalry, shortlisted for the 2008 Man Asian Literary Prize.

China: Portrait of a People (Tom Carter)
One man’s unique photographic journey through the places and faces of China.

My 32 sqm Apartment,(Gary Chang)
A 30-year visual record of the changing interior of a Hong Kong home.

Readers' choice: The Man Who Loved China (Simon Winchester)
From the master of the historical epic came this winning story of eccentric British scientist Joseph Needham, and his own epic tome, Science and Civilisation in China.