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