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"Beautifully reported...If you want to understand the century you're living in, this book is required reading." -Bill McKibben, founder of .350.org

"Spectacularly important. It should be compulsory reading for all" --Rob Gifford, China editor for the Economist & author of China Road

"Fascinating, engaging and beautifully written. A masterpiece" ---George Monbiot, author of Heat and The Age of Consent

“This is the book on China and climate change that the West has been waiting for" ----James Kynge, author of China Shakes The World

"With wonderful travelogue-like writing, Watts takes us on an incredible journey through today's China-and our tomorrow" ---Lester R. Brown, President of Earth Policy Institute and author of Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization 

"An extraordinary book...Watts has spent five years trying to make sense of the ecological trashing of China--and he tells most of it in close-up, one human story at a time." -Johann Hari, Slate

"An excellent read. A few good gags in it too, something few writers on China dare ever to try"-Paul French, author of Through the Looking Glass: Foreign Journalists in China from the Opium War to Mao

"I admire Jonathan Watts for his rigorous approach to journalism and his devotion to human stories at the grass roots" ---Ma Jun, founder of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs and author of China's Water Crisis

"Watts bundles the reader into his backpack and sets out.But this is far more than a series of adventure stories...Watts’s book should be on the reading list of anyone anxious about the future of this planet"--Jane Macartney, The Times

"This book is not simply an indictment of China's development path: it is a lesson for us all in the dangers of how we live"--Isabel Hilton, founder of China Dialogue

"A riveting picture of one of human history's most astonishing episodes. Watts has enormous sympathy with China and love for its people but he is clear-eyed"--Michael McCarthy, The Independent

"Jonathan Watts turns a keen eye on China's choices - previously made and yet to come - that will affect us all" ---Timothy E. Wirth, President, United Nations Foundation and Better World Fund

Watts has enormous sympathy with China and love for its people...From destitute peasants to the flashy new rich of Shanghai, it is in their words that Watts gives us an essential insight" - Michael McCarthy, Independent