Book excerpt: China continues to be a puzzling place, with the specifics of its development still poorly understood. Few have delved deeply into deciphering the ground-level intangibles of the nation's recent socio-economic past. In this book, Mark Jacobs, a Fulbright Scholar, presents an in-depth study of Yiwu, Zhejiang, a place known throughout China as the nation's "small commodities city." Yiwu encompasses over 60,000 bazaar-like stalls, where, each day, thousands of traders from throughout China and the world buy goods that supply the ubiquitous dollar stores and other merchandisers. Yiwu's rise was emblematic of China's success; the challenges it is currently facing portray China's recent difficulties. The book outlines these successes and difficulties, doing so by integrating the views of those directly involved, drawn from hundreds of interviews, conducted over a six-year period. Based on interview results, the book also offers suggestions regarding how Yiwu (and by proxy, China) might continue to progress.