There are a lot of books about China, these are some of my favourites.

The Good Earth – Pearl S. Buck

Dreaming in Chinese – Deborah Fallows

Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China – Jung Chang

Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China – Jung Chung

Serve the People: A Stir-Fried Journey Through China – Jen Lin-Liu

The Man Who Loved China – Simon Winchester (also published under the title, Bomb, Book and Compass)

Beijing Coma – Ma Jian

The Last Days of Old Beijing: Life in the Vanishing Backstreets of a City Transformed – Michael Meyer